Um Professor?
by Silver B. Wingsfield
Summary: Lily Evans hoped for an exciting year, but was surprised at how exciting when she met the new DADA teacher. James Potter. The gorgeous professor only a few years older than the 7th years and quite taken with one Miss Evans. M for future scenes.
1. Um, Well, Yeah

**Um... Professor? **

**Chapter1**: Um, Uh, Well.

Lily sat in a compartment on the train awaiting her friends' arrival. She had been sitting awhile due to her hardwired need to be early. She tried reading a book to curb her boredom, but her mind wandered to the year in front of her. Her final year at Hogwarts. And only as Head Girl.

Her two best friends came barging into the compartment, interrupting her thoughts. She checked her watch, 10:54, undoubtedly Elizabeth's fault. Chloe Kounodis and Elizabeth

Rodgers. Now, Chloe was the maternal side that everybody has, and a compulsive baker to boot. She was like everyone in Gryffindor's mother away from home. She was a shoulder to cry on for any who needed or wanted it. She had medium length thick dark brown hair and olive skin.

Elizabeth for-GOD's-sake-do-not-call-me-Liz,-Lizzie,-Beth...etc Rodgers was well, the normal teenager, easily/overly stressed and anal when it comes to her work. She was frustrated and chill and angry and sweet all at the same time. Unfortunately though, it was either one or the other at any given time with Elizabeth. She had short light brown hair and eyes and where as Chloe was petite Elizabeth was a little taller and slender.

"Oh my goodness, how I've missed you! Haven't you ever heard of a letter? One every 2 weeks, are you insane?"

"Hello Chloe. I missed you too." Lily squeaked out as she was wrapped in a tight hug. And then she smelled it on Chloe with her basset hound nose. "Come on fork 'em over Chloe. I'm shocked you would try to hide them from me."

"What? What's she got?" Elizabeth said breaking them apart.

"Brownies. The special ones"

"Ha. I knew it. No one could be as chill as Chloe without a little Mary Jane on the side"

"Oh really Elizabeth. She's obviously talking about the caramel swirl, chocolate swirl, and chocolate chip brownies." Chloe replied as she pulled out the brownies that were spoken of.

"Mhm. Whatever you say." And they continued to chat about the summer and what they hadn't told each other through letters, up until lunch when Lily ventured off to find the lunch trolley, not about to wait for it to find her like her friends were. After a minute or two, she saw it and started to hurry for it.

----------------------------------------------

James Potter was standing at the lunch trolley deciding what to get, contemplating a turkey sandwich. _'This is definitely a pro to being back here,'_ he thought to himself, remembering his father's reaction to his decision, when he told him he would be accepting the teaching position as DADA teacher at Hogwarts. His father sat him down, trying to act rationally, made him write a pro/con list while breathing down his neck. All of a sudden he felt something hard run into him from behind.

"Oh gosh I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention," said the voice of, apparently, the girl who had run into him.

"Oh no, I was in th-" he stop when he caught sight of her as he turned around. She was breathtaking. She had flowing, rich red hair, a gentle pale face, and captivating green eyes. He stood, doing his best to take her all in. She was about 8 inches shorter than him and had a slim, but not scrawny figure. A great body in fact. Curvy in all the right places, or well, all the wrong places considering all the things running through his mind at that point.

Lily was absolutely struck by this man. He was nothing short of beautiful. A face, no doubt carved by angels, messy black hair, and hazel eyes she wouldn't mind staring at all day. She had to snap herself out of her revere, to stop herself from gawking, and looked back up at him.

"Um... so, sorry again. Like I said, I wasn't paying attention. I'm such a klutz," she stammered.

She was so adorable. He had to say something, show her he was smart, charming, funny, something! "Uh... hi," he practically whispered. _'Smooth, real articulate there Prongs,_' he mentally smacked his forehead.

"So, uh, excuse me," she tried to get around him awkwardly in the tight corridor. _'Is it me or did he just check me out?'_

"Yes?" he asked hopefully taking a step forward as she seemed to have been. She was taken aback now that he was mere inches from her.

"Uh..." confused by him now, "...the trolley..." she said lamely.

Understanding what she was trying to do now, he stepped aside to let her pass.

"Thanks," she said and began to walk past him.

"Wait!" he yelled at her and she spun around so quickly she almost lost her balance. "Hi," he said again.

"Hello," she said getting a bit annoyed now. She stood there waiting for him to say more, when he said nothing she began to turn back around. _'Weirdo.'_

"Who are you?" he said exactly what he was thinking.

"Um..." now even more weirded out now, "Uh, Lily Evans"

"What a beautiful name," he had meant to say that in his head. "I mean, I mean well, you know uh... yeah. It is," he decided there wasn't anyway to play that one off without seeming like an ass.

"Well thanks? And you are?" trying to make this exchange as easy as possible with this strange, beautiful man.

"Um..." 'Damn who am I?' "James Potter, yeah that's him. Um, me. Me, I'm him. I m-mean" _'Aww crap, just shut up now,'_ "yeah," he finally spat out.

"So... you're the new professor?"

"Y-yes. I am," then he realized that he was a professor and she a student, that he shouldn't be interested in her or trying to think up ways to impress her, like he was.

"Well I'll see you in class then. Professor Potter," she said as she paid for her sandwich she blindly picked and walked away.

"Lily," he breathed, watching her retreat. When she got halfway down the corridor, she looked over her shoulder to see him still staring. She quickly looked away and shuffled off.

----------------------------

At the feast, James felt odd being on the opposite side of the teachers' table. The first years had been sorted, but he was less than enthusiastic during the ceremony. He was having an argument with himself in his head. Responsible James and Prongs did not see eye to eye on this situation. Prongs, of course, thought that James could totally have this girl without any repercussions. RJ (for short) knew that this was completely out of the question, he was her professor now and five years older than her (_'not that much'_ Prongs would pipe in) if he was right and she was a 7th year.

Lily didn't tell the girls about who she met, but her lack of conversation the rest of the ride made them a bit suspicious. During the feast, she stole furtive glances at Professor Potter, while the girls around her talked about him.

"He was an Auror."

"He is soooooo gorgeous."

"I'd like some private lessons with him."

At the last one, Lily scoffed.

"What is it, Lils," Elizabeth asked.

"Oh. Nothing. Except I thought we're were supposed to be 7th years," Lily replied with contempt.

"I know what you mean," she said understandingly. Giggly girls made her gag too.

-----------------------------

"So, Professor Dumbledore," James started, trying half-heartedly to make conversation, "Who's the Heads this year?"

"Colin Crags from Ravenclaw and Lily Evans from Gryffindor," At this, James dropped his fork. "Oh, there you go," and Dumbledore conjured him a new fork, "Yes they are excellent students. Colin is somewhat quiet but smart and well loved by his peers. Lily has the highest marks in her year, for the most part, rather popular but very responsible, and all the teachers love her," he ended contently.

"Ah, yes," he replied dully as Dumbledore was caught in conversation with McGonagall.

James quickly scanned the students and found her at the Gryffindor table, not talking much but not looking unhappy. Then she looked up at him and their eyes met. They were both a bit surprised to catch the other looking at them, but James smiled at her a bit and surprised, she did the same then looked away. He was rather pleased with himself at the moment and allowed himself to take in his other students. However, he was displeased to see a good portion of the male pupils were also enjoying staring at the lovely Miss Evans. He felt a tear of jealousy as questions began to arise. Did she have a boyfriend? What were those boys thinking (although he was pretty sure he knew)? Did they plan to act on these thoughts? Did she have feelings for any of them? He was so sure that they had had a moment on the train, but doubted himself a bit, scrutinizing her expressions in his memory.

He then realized that this was going to be hell.


	2. Inevitable

**Um… Professor**

Chapter 2: Inevitable

**A/N:** Sorry I didn't put a disclaimer before. This is the only one I will put through the duration of this story so here I go. I disclaim. As in all Harry Potter rights and characters do not belong to me, but all others do. Such as the OCs although they were inspired by some of my friends. Thankfully they don't read fanfiction, though otherwise I'd be shot. Also, this is where the M begins to kick in. Please note RJ's thoughts and **Prongs' thoughts**.

-----------------------------

James was sitting at his desk in the classroom reading a book, and heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called out, and in walked Lily. "Oh, hello Miss Evans, how may I help you," he said calmly as he stood.

"Oh... nothing much," he could see that she was nervous but not sure why. "I just... um, needed to t-talk to you,"

"Of course go ahead," he smiled at her.

"Well, oh I don't know where to start," he simply looked on encouragingly, and she continued, "I guess I'll just start from the beginning. Ever since the first time I saw on the train that day I haven't stopped thinking of you and I don't know what to do because it's totally inappropriate and I know that but I can't help it. Every time I see you I just want you so bad and-"

"Lily!" James said cutting her off, "I feel the same way." The look of relief and happiness on her face was too much for him. He stepped in front of her and began to lean down. He cupped her face with one hand, reveling in its softness, and held onto her waist with his other, guiding her even closer to him. His face was coming even closer to hers and she was bringing hers to his.

"James," she breathed, caution clear in her voice.

"Don't worry," he reassured her and pulled her body flush against his. They were both breathing shallow and gazing into the other's eyes. When their lips met, his eyes fell shut and heat rushed throughout James' body from his lips and everywhere Lily's body touched his. Her hands found their way into his hair and were combing through it pulling it.

Excited by her action, James turned them around and pushed her onto his desk with himself atop her, kissing her fiercely. She let her hands roam his hard body. The hand he had on her waist moved to her stomach, then up to fondle her breast through her school shirt. At this, she moaned a bit under his mouth. He loved that sound so much he could live off it, and he wanted more of it. He pushed his pelvis into hers, causing her to break the kiss to moan loudly. He let his other hand find her butt and pulled it into him.

"Oooh, James," she moaned as he began to kiss and suck down her neck.

"Oh Ja-ames," but in a different voice. 'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'Sirius?'

"Goddamn it man get up!" his best friend yelled at him.

------------------------------

James opened his eyes to the faint sunlight peeking through his curtains. He looked to his bed side table and threw his glasses on his face. Unfortunately, it wasn't Lily's face he saw but the one of his best friend Sirius Black in one of their two-way mirrors.

"Okay man, you were the one who made me get up early to be sure you weren't late for class, and you're refusing to get up? This is not gonna fly with Moony, no siree," Sirius scolded.

"Shut up Pad I'm up," James muttered as he laid the mirror face down on the table.

"Oh hell the fuck no. Don't you put me down Potter, you listen to me..." Sirius continued to go on with his muffled chastisement.

During this time, James helped himself to get up, but noticed something. He had a full blown hard-on. 'Damn you Lily Evans. Looks like a cold shower this morning.'

-----------------------------

Lily was enjoying her breakfast of toast with peanut butter with her friends now joined by Emmilia Pisa, who was totally psychotic and hilarious and had shoulder length black hair.

"Lily what are you staring at?" she enquired suspiciously.

"What? Nothing," Lily said quickly. She realized that she was staring at Professor Potter.

"Someone has the hots for Mr. Potter, I believe," Emmilia said amusedly.

"No, no no no. Just observing," she knew that was probably the wrong thing to say at the moment.

"Oh. You mean observing his sexy body," she whispered fiercely

"No, just shut up, God, everyone will hear you,"

"What about him? Will he hear me? Should I go tell him how much you want his penis?" Emmilia nearly yelled across the table at her.

Lily threw herself across the table and clamped her hands over her friends mouth. Thankfully it seemed people were staring because of Lily's diving abilities instead of the outburst of "penis."

"Are you gonna say more?" Emmilia shook her head, "Are you lying to me?" Emmilia nodded, "Try again?" Emmilia shoulders dropped, but she shook her head, "Good, good girl," Lily said while petting her head, "Now let's to class."

"Well now, what have we here," she said pondering and looking at Lily's schedule, "First Period, Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's fate bringing you and your illegal lover together, Lily," Emmelia said trying to be profound.

"Or more like inevitable," Lily reasoned and snatched it out of her hands, "Let's go. I gotta go back to the tower to pick up a book I forgot."

----------------------------------------------------------

James had just finished his breakfast and saw Lily leave the Great Hall (not that he was watching her again or anything). He was tapping his leg nervously and running his fingers threw his hair.

No girl has ever made him feel this way. His heart skipped a bit every time he thought of her and when he was close to her he always felt the urge to reach out and touch her. He decided he needed to stop dwelling on his thoughts and get off to class.

"Break a leg, James," he heard Dumbledore call to him from the table.

"Thank you, sir."

Once in the classroom, James looked at his schedule. First period was 7th year Gryffindor and Ravenclaws. He quickly found his roster for the class, and of course saw Lily's name 6th on the list.

'Ok, I won't let this ruin my first class. I just need to brace myself,' James knew the moment he saw her he would totally lose his shit. He then pulled out the lesson plan for his first week that Remus had "helped" him with. It read,

"Take this time to asses their knowledge of advanced spell work, how comfortable they are with using non-verbal spells, and dueling. Suggestions for this:

1) quiz them (don't worry I wrote you one) "Oh thank God"

2) quiz verbally by going around the room (using written one as a guide)

3) line them up and have them perform a small variety of spells (either at target or you)

4) pair them up to duel

Homework: Read ch. 1-7 of Advanced Defenses for Severe Combat and a summary with emphasis on their favorite strategy illustrated."

James silently thanked Remus for how thorough he was. He didn't expect the students to show up for another 10 minutes, so he pulled out a crossword. They always helped him focus, and he needed to brace himself. In about 10 minutes, students began to file in. The slutty girls went to sit up front near Potter to bat their eyes at him, but he was completely invested in his crossword. That was until Lily came in flanked by her three friends. He immediately caught site of her in the corner of his eye and was surprised (but not entirely shocked) that he hadn't noticed anyone come in and shook himself out of his stupor.

When Lily entered her first class, she was talking to her friends about the latest gossip. Apparently Thomas Orpheus, the most gorgeous Gryffindor, had broken up with his girlfriend of 4 months and everyone thought they were going to last. She looked over at the professor and had to hold back a huge grin that was threatening to spill over her face. Her and her friends took the last few seats in the second row and a couple of the third. The desks were set up 3 desks, an aisle, 3 desks, for 4 rows.

"Hey Evans," Thomas Orpheus said smiling as he walked up to her and sat on the edge of her desk. Lily was a bit surprised. She didn't have too many conversations with him. Up close like this, Lily felt bad for his ex. He was super hot. Like any popular guy, he was a star Quidditch player, and he had honey blonde hair and warm brown eyes.

"Hey, what's up? Good summer?" Lily said trying to pull out her charm. She wouldn't mind having him on her arm.

"Yeah. The family and me went to Italy over the summer," he replied smoothly. Lily had always wanted to go there.

"Wow really..." they continued talking about their summers, while James watched from afar.

'What does he think he's doing? She's so not interested in that creep. He's trying way too hard,'

James kept thinking up insults and reasons why this guy was totally wrong for her. 'Blond. He's probably an idiot,' until he noticed the seats were almost full.

James coughed and started, "Class if you'll all be seated. That means you!" James yelled at lover boy even though he had started to walk to his seat. "Now before we begin, I see you've all gotten comfortable where you are, but don't. Sorry I know you all want to sit next to your friends and chat, believe me I know, but this is just until I get to know your names. I've never been good with them. It's alphabetical order so here we go." He called the names out and pointed to the desk. From his desk, it went from left to right in a snake shape through the rows. He got to the last name in the first row which was, "Evans, Lily." He looked up quickly after noticing what he said and smiled as she picked up her bag and walk quietly over to him. She smiled at him before sitting down.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Lily," James was so shocked at how calmly he was speaking to her, considering last time he was a bumbling fool.

"You as well, Professor," she replied sweetly. James finished the seating and went back to the front of the class.

"Ok, well I'm Professor Potter. Your new teacher this year, clearly. Now, this is your last year, your last hoorah. This is your most important year because once you graduate your lives begin. You go out into the world, get jobs and generally live. I know this is probably hard for you to understand cause when you're 17 it's hard to see past Friday night. All you've known of life is school and learning here. But don't worry, you'll be learning forever, whether you can tell or not.

"So now, today will be pretty laid back, we're going to start off with a little quiz, please hold your groans until I'm done, it's very simple, almost insulting to your intelligence seeing as you are my NEWT class. So, I won't be expecting less than perfection on this little quiz and also everything else from here on out will be held by much higher standards, yes I'm aware you are all ecstatic," he ended sarcastically and passed out the quizzes. When he passed Lily, she smiled at him again and his heart skipped a beat as he returned it.

He sat back at his desk and mildly watched the students and intensely watched Lily, thinking about her smile as she wore a serene expression, flying through the quiz. She was the first to hand in her quiz.

"Any trouble, Lily?" James asked as placed the quiz on his desk.

"None at all," she said quietly, "Like you said, insulting to my intelligence," She smiled crookedly to him. Her heart was beating so fast as she looked at his amused face.

"Glad to hear it." Lily walked back to her desk, and soon everyone was finished. "Ok, so now in order for you to pay me back for quizzing you on your first day. I'm going to let you all throw curses at me." James laughed to himself as he saw his students go from excited to curious to puzzled. "Let me explain. I don't know any of you and so I need to get on that. So, as your teacher I need to get acquainted with how you duel. This is how I plan to do it. Everyone on either side of the class. Go."

The kids went to either the left or right of where he was. James then pushed the desks to the side also, with a wave of his wand. "Let's keep with the alphabetical theme to day so first victim is... Bullion, Charles." James watched as the boy walked toward him. "Go stand across from me by the back of the class and throw any legal non-capacitating curse at me and I'll deflect it. Unless of course you're quick enough," James finished.

Mr. Bullion was a hesitant shot, thus easily deflected. The couple of kids after him were pretty good but still easily defeated. And then came, "Evans, Lily," James watched her walk to her mark confidently. He took a deep breath, "Whenever you're ready." Lily was nervous. He had completely owned everyone who had gone up there. Lily realized that he didn't expect her to hit him. But she wanted to be the one who was able to. She looked at him, and immediately regretted it. She took a deep breath and fired. A hot pink stream left her wand which James deflected in the nick of time. It rebounded back at, almost hitting her, and she had to jump back. On instinct, she fired back at him and a bolt of navy blue electricity hit his leg with a distinct crack. James screamed from the pain of his breaking leg.

"Professor!" Lily yelled as she ran to him, trying to support his weight as he fell to the ground. "Oh my God! Professor, I'm so sorry I really didn't mean it! It was just a reflex!"

"Good reflexes," he murmured with a smile, while clutching his leg. At this point, the students came out of their shock and ran to him with similar cries of "Professor" "Are you ok?" "Would you like some help?"

"It's alright I've had worse just give me some air," he said to them, but didn't take his eyes off of Lily who was also watching him, eyes full of remorse. She began to pull away, "Not you. You can help me. Know any healing spells?"

"Uh, yes but not well enough for this. I'm SO sorry!" James just laughed at this. "I'll help you to the hospital wing though," James sobered at this.

"Oh no. Madame Pomfrey had enough of me during school. She'd be a bit upset to see me in there my first day back," James knew that, in fact, the woman would snap his other leg.

"Nonsense. This is my fault," Lily insisted.

"Oh no just-"

"You're going to the hospital wing!" she said sternly.

"Yes," he caved, "Well unfortunately, class dismissed for the day." Many of the girls however, stayed to see if they could help him there. "No please. Miss Evans is more than capable."

"Lily, you want us to wait?" Chloe asked.

"No, it's alright," she replied and wrapped her arm around James' waist helping him up. He put his arm around her shoulders and held close to her. Everyone was gone by now. "I am so sorry."

James laughed a bit, "Don't worry so much it wasn't entirely you're fault."

"Yes it was," she said quietly, trying to say it just to herself. James snickered a bit again. "You're good with pain," she commented seeing as he hardly flinched when he got up.

"Experience," he said simply.

"Ha! That sounds... excruciating."

"That's what I get for so much Quidditch." Lily just laughed at this and looked up at him. By now they were two corridors down from the DADA classroom. When Lily looked up at him, James noticed his face was about 8 inches away from hers. It was the closest he had ever been to her. She once again, caught him with her eyes and wouldn't let go. His easy smile faded to a determined stare.

Subconsciously, his face was leaning into hers and his arm fell around her waist. Lily saw him staring at her and wondered what he was thinking. They had stopped walking (well, hobbling) and James seemed to suddenly be a lot closer to her. _'Is he going to kiss me?'_ If his expression was any indication of that, he was. _'Wait this isn't right. Who would want to kiss me? Especially him.'_ His gaze was boring into her and she didn't want him to stop, but knew he had to. His hand tightened around her, while his face dropped more. Merely an inch from her face now. His eyes were getting heavier, and Lily couldn't help but let hers drop some. He was so close that she felt his breath on her upper lip. He was however breathing heavily because of their close proximity.

This is what triggered Lily's responsibility.

"Um... Professor?" Lily said quietly. James' eyes shot open at the unwelcome formality and reminder.

"Yes, Lily?"

"We should keep walking," she said simply.

"Yes," and they turned away from each other, but Prongs refused to move his arm from Lily's waist

no matter how much RJ ranted. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

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"Oh, for Merlin. James Potter! I thought I was done with you once you graduated," Madame Pomfrey screeched at him.

"It's lovely to see you too," James replied sweetly.

"It was all my fault!" Lily burst out.

"Don't worry Miss Evans, I'm sure he deserved it." Lily was about to retort, but Madame Pomfrey said, "You can go back to class I got it from here," and grabbed James by his arms, leading him to a nearby bed with surprising strength. Lily stayed though, as James was settled in, healed his leg with a spell and went to get something to clean it up.

"Once again I'm sorry," Lily apologized again.

"Me too," James said so only he could hear.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Lily hesitated, "Professor..."

"Yes, Lily?"

She took a quick breath and said, "Are you going to give me a detention?"

James chuckled, but then thought about it.

'No, Lily. You did nothing wrong.'

**'Whoa not so fast dude. Imagine it.'**

'The girl does not deserve it.'

**'What about me?'**

'What about you?'

**'I deserve it.'**

'What are you on about?'

'**Come on. Me. Her. All alone in that classroom in the middle of the night, after curfew...'**

'You disgust me,'

James decided on a compromise. _'I will give her one detention, but not let Prongs out of his box during it.'_ **'Who are you kidding?'**

"I'm sorry, but yes. I know you did nothing wrong but it's my first week here and I can't let kids think they can go around beating me up," James ended with a chuckle.

"I understand completely," Lily said with the sweetest smile. That smile seemed to take away his entire vocabulary. "Well, I'll get going. With any luck you'll be in your next class," and as she walked towards the exit.

As he watched her walk away, that's when James knew. He knew what was going to happen and that it would. He could try to stop it, but it was inevitable, whether he liked it or not (although he was sure he would). And he was sure he wouldn't take in the consequences, until presented with them. The only question now, was when.

Blast!

**A/N:** Don't be review shy. They really encourage me. Also, if anyone picked up the Brad Paisley reference I love you forever. Also also, any suggestions again, don't be shy. I may or may not take them, but don't let that discourage you.


	3. Plans

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 3: Plans

"Okay, tonight for homework a one foot essay on today's topic," James said at the end of class.

It was his second day, and was in his seventh year Gryffindor and Ravenclaws class.

"Professor Potter?" a voice came from behind him as the bell rang. He didn't need to turn around to see who it was, but did anyways. Lily Evans stood before him as the others filed out, looking expectantly.

James gulped, "Yes, Lily?"

"I was just wondering when I was to serve that detention."

"Oh. Yes… how about tonight? Eight o'clock?" he felt like he was a schoolboy asking her on a date instead of assigning chastisement.

"Yes, of course," she smiled and left, leaving him standing there staring at the spot she had stood in not a moment ago, thinking about tonight.

"Urgh... Lily-y-y-y... Help meeee!"

"Shut up Emmilia." Lily said calmly.

"But I need you to save me! Be my knight, Lily. Won't you?" Emmilia wailed and threw herself onto Lily's lap.

"I can't save you I'm sorry, Em. I have detention tonight, which I need to get to soon. Ask Chloe to help with your charms homework," Lily reasoned. She was just finishing the conclusion on her DADA essay, thus done with her work for the evening.

Emmilia bolted off Lily to gawk and point at her in the middle of the common room (they bother trying to work in the library because Em always ended up suspended from it).

"Did you just say that Lily Evans has a detention? I'm sorry; did I not get the memo? When did Hell hit below zero?" she asked with a confused expression.

"_Excuse me,_" Lily replied shocked, "Were you not in class yesterday? Did you miss my brilliant display of grace? 'Cause no one else did."

"I thought you said he wasn't mad?" Em replied sitting down.

"He's not, but he had to. I almost snapped his leg in two for God's sake."

"Well, I suggest you wear something sexy."

"_What!_"

"Come on, Lily. You love the man. How could you not?"

"It's almost eight. I need to be off," she got up, collected her books in her bag and walked to the portrait hole.

"At least show a little skin!" Emmilia yelled after her.

"Shut up Emmilia."

James was in his room in front of his mirror fidgeting with his shirt.

**Wear the black one. We look good in that.**

Now why do you want to look good for a detention?

**Duh! She's a babe.**

She's a student.

"Don't start!"

"Who you talking to?" asked a voice from behind. James whirled around to see only the face of Sirius Black in the mirror on his table, smirking at him. "Are you going insane Prongsie?"

"You... are a creep; watching me dress," James said disapprovingly.

"Hot date?" he asked ignoring his friend's insult.

"Detention."

Sirius burst out laughing, "A Marauder… Handing out detentions!?" He had to wipe the tears out of his eyes at this point, "Oh, oh that's good. Now what'd the kid do?"

"She broke my leg," he said in a huff.

"Whoa," he said astonished. "Now she's a keeper." And he began a new bout of laughter.

"That's it you're going face down," and he placed the mirror face down on the table, but he could still hear his friend's bark laughter. So naturally, he shoved the mirror between the mattress and walked back to his full-length mirror to scrutinize his appearance some more. He was wearing a striped button down and khaki trousers. _I look too old. _

You're supposed to be!

**Don't listen to him. Black shirt. Ooh and jeans.**

God help you, child. 

Nevertheless, James changed.

Lily knocked on the door and waited. She thought about her conversation with Emmilia in the common room and unbuttoned a few of the buttons on her white school shirt then immediately felt like a fool. What was she thinking, this is her professor. But still she looked both ways into the corridor to see if anyone was coming and since no one was, she undid her ponytail and fluffed her hair a bit. _Something sexy._

James stood behind the door taking deep breaths, trying in vain to shake his nerves. He opened up the door to see the image of Lily. She looked beautiful as always and had to will himself to breath when she smiled at him.

"Professor," she said sweetly, waiting to be let into his office. But he just stood there looking at her. "May I come in?"

"Oh! Yes of course," he said quickly standing aside and she walked past him. As she did he caught scent of a sweet floral smell coming off of her, and breathed deep. He looked her up and down, unashamedly, as she walked across his office.

She sat down in front of his desk to await his instructions.

"So…" he said awkwardly.

"So," she repeated equally as awkward. And waited. And waited, but he just stood there by the door, running his fingers through his hair. Getting annoyed by the silence she said slowly and looked intently at him, "What do you want me to do?"

James was startled by her words. "Yes, yes. One moment." He went around his desk and sat down. "Ok, well I thought you could just do some lines for me."

"Alright," she replied and took out some parchment, a quill and ink and sat down at the desk on the other side of the office and was about to begin writing, "Oh, um, what did you want me to write, sir?"

"'I will control my instincts,'" he blurted out and immediately looked up at her reaction. She seemed a bit surprised but not totally taken aback.

"'I will control my instincts?'" she asked, inclining her head in interest.

He knew if he changed it then she would get suspicious. "Yes. That's what you said yesterday, right? That it was a reflex," he said trying to feign confidence.

"Yes I did, didn't I?" she said and looked back at her paper. She hesitated a moment, then began writing.

He sat at his desk and pretended to do work, while watching Lily out of the corner of his eye. He let his mind wander. For the first time in a while, he thought about his future, where he wanted to be in five years. He knew he didn't want to be a teacher. He only took the job because Dumbledore had asked. He remembered how surprised he was when he got the letter. He had been unemployed. James was trained as an Auror, but didn't like how little action was being taken and eventually left without looking back.

He thought about when he would get married too. And Lily. He imagined himself married with kids, and could only see her as his wife. _This is crazy. I just met her._

"Professor, how many times did you want me to write this?" James was snapped out of his thoughts by Lily's voice. He looked at the clock. It had been 45 minutes already. It felt like 5. He didn't want it to end, he was enjoying watching her.

"Um, for a while longer at least. I mean it's only been 45 minutes," he said a bit nervously.

"Oh, okay," and she went back to her work. James started slacking in his pretending and just watched her. In a minute, she put her quill on the desk and tried twirling her wrist. It had begun to hurt. "How about you take a break. You've been writing for," he checked the clock, "a solid hour."

"You really shouldn't be cutting detention students slack, or they'll think they can walk all over you," she said cheekily.

James laughed at this, "How about I make you a cup of tea or something, Miss Head Girl." And he got busy making it. Lily laughed at being addressed so formally.

"Here you go," he handed her the tea. "So…" he said thinking of what to converse about.

"So…" Lily felt a bit awkward. "So, um, why did you take this position, if it's not too personal?"

"Well, I guess just, something to do," he replied lamely.

"Oh. I would have thought you had a good job."

"Well, I did but that's a long story. I quit."

"I'll take that as 'It's personal.'"

"Kind of. I guess just complicated." He was pleasantly surprised by her interest in his life. "What about you. What do you plan to do when you get out?"

"Uh… I don't. Something that'll do some good. Maybe a Healer. I was thinking of being an Auror, but…" she hesitated and looked up at him.

"Go ahead," James encouraged her.

She sighed and said in a sort of whisper, "Well, there are rumors that the Auror department is corrupt."

James sighed and sat back in his chair. He had heard this too, but from higher sources than schoolgirls. "Yes, I've heard that too. But I'm sure you'll do amazing things for the world, Lily."

Lily felt herself blush and hoped he couldn't see, but he did. "Oh, thank you, that's very sweet."

"Well thank you, Lily," he said quietly and they sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company.

"Why do you call me Lily?" Lily asked abruptly. James looked up, eyes wide.

"W-what?" he was so surprised by what she said and he didn't understand what she meant.

"I mean, at first I thought you called all your students by their first name, but today in class when you called on people it was 'Miss' and 'Mr' but with me it's 'Lily,'" she said somewhat matter-of-factly. She was genuinely interested. She knew what she hoped the answer was.

"_Because Lily, I'm so in love with you!" he blurted out and rushed to her from around the desk. "I have been since the moment I first saw you on the train." And he wrapped her in his arms, holding her arm downs. "I love you." And he kissed her full on the lips with so much love and passion that her knees went weak and she thanked God that he was holding her up._

"Um… uh, well… I guess," _Because I'm in love with you! I met you two days ago, but I'm in love in you!_ "I met you first." _Noooo! _"You introduced yourself as Lily Evans not Evans coma Lily on my roster so…" he silently prayed that she would believe this.

"Oh. Of course." _Bullshit, Professor._

**Quick Flashback**

**Today: Walking into DADA**

Lily was standing behind the queue in front of the class waiting for people to _fucking move._ She heard the conversation going on in front of her.

"Professor Potter, I'm sorry we didn't really get to meet each other yesterday, what with Lily breaking your leg!" said this girl who was batting her eyes at him like she was going blind. "I'm Michaela Gushing,"

_I'll say, you big slut,_ Lily thought.

"It's nice to be formally introduced, Miss Gushing.

She started cackling like a hyena at this, "Oh please, call me Michaela," throwing him what Lily supposed the girl thought was a seductive smile.

"Miss Gushing, if you don't mind, you're blocking the other students.

"Oh," she walked away clearly put out.

As Lily walked through the threshold, James said, "Hello, Lily." She couldn't stop herself from smiling at him.

"Professor."

After that, they ended up deep in conversation talking about everything and nothing. They ended up on the subject of James' friends.

"I swear, I was gonna kill Sirius today," James laughed.

"Why?"

"Well you see," James said. He felt very comfortable with her, especially compared to how nervous he usually was around her, so he continued, "We have these two-way mirrors. You talk into one and the other person sees and hears you, even if you're hundreds of miles away. We used to use them to talk when we were in different detentions or when pranking. So I keep mine propped up on a table in my room. I've always kept it on hand.

"So, earlier I was getting ready, and he brought it upon himself to make fun of me all of a sudden, and just wouldn't shut up. So now the thing is probably broken."

"Broken?"

"Yes. You see, I was then forced to shove it under my mattress by his merciless taunting," he admitted. Lily started laughing uncontrollably.

"Wow. The great James Potter being bullied. Ha! I wish I could have been there," she began to calm down and took a sip of her tea. They were now on their third cup. "So what was he taunting you about?" she asked innocently.

"What?" he asked, trying to think up a lie, because he knew what the answer was but wasn't about to admit it to her. He settled on sort of the truth. "Oh, well, just what I was wearing. He thinks I can't dress myself," he tried joking, to play it off.

"What! That's crazy. You look great," she said.

James felt a blush coming on and tried to will himself not to. He had never blushed at a compliment, especially from a girl. He felt like such a girl. She was now leaning on his desk looking at him with a caring look on her face.

"Well you look great too, Lily," he said quietly.

"Oh… thank you, sir," she said blushing. James' chest swelled with pride seeing it.

"Well it's true. I see you get all the boys' attention," at this Lily felt herself blush even more fiercely. She knew that this was kind of true. She was asked on quite a few dates, but she wouldn't call herself popular. But she wasn't about to admit that.

"Oh, I don't know about that," she said modestly.

"Nonsense," he said as a little scheme hatched in his head, "your boyfriend is very lucky."

"What?" she was surprised by this. _Did someone say they were my boyfriend?_ "Oh no. I don't have a boyfriend."

"Really," he began, his confidence building, "a beautiful, intelligent girl like you?"

Lily was getting a bit embarrassed at this point, "I guess none of the boys here like me," she said with a chuckle.

"Once again, nonsense. It's you who doesn't like the boys," James hoped this more than he believed.

"Maybe." They sat there in more silence for a while. Lily resting her head on her hand, leaning on James' desk. James leaning towards Lily, the two just staring at each other.

"We've been here for a while," Lily said without breaking eye contact.

James sighed. He knew she was right. She would have to leave soon too. But looking into her eyes, green and so pure, he never wanted to be without her presence. "I know," he looked at the clock, 10:55. "Shit. I guess it's over," he said under his breath.

"What? Oh fuck!" she said when she saw the clock. She got up quickly and grabbed her bag, running to the door.

"Lily! Wait I'll walk you back. You may be Head girl, but being caught out after curfew won't fly with Filch," James said as he rushed to her.

"Oh, okay." And she stopped at the door to wait for him

They walked to the Heads common room without a word. It was awkward again. She didn't know what to say to him. What could she say that he would be interested? Nothing. She was a just some seventeen year old girl and he was a twenty something man.

"Well here we are," Lily said when they finally reached the entrance to her common room.

"Oh okay," he said, startled by how quickly they had got there. "I'll see you in class then."

"Yes, you will," she replied as she backed up from him. "_Forbidden._" And the portrait of the happy little medieval family swung open. "See you tomorrow, James," she said while trying to walk backwards into the common room. This proved unwise when she tripped on air and went flying back, arms flailing. Thankfully, James caught her by her arms and pulled her to him.

"Whoa there," he said with a huge grin on his face.

"Sorry. Good-bye," and she left letting the portrait shut behind her.

"Good-bye."

When James got back to his room, he was still smiling. _James. _His name had never sounded better. He realized that he had to talk to someone.

"SIRIUS!" James ran full sprint into his bedroom. "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius..." he chanted as he looked around frantically for the mirror he had muffled earlier. He finally pulled it out from under the mattress when he remembered the incident earlier. "Sirius," James finally spoke into it.

"Mmm, yes?" a tired looking Sirius said to him. When he saw James he looked sour. "Oh, well look who decided to pull the stick out of his ass. If it isn't my _dear_ friend Prongs. And what can I do for you. I mean it's not like I was busy or anything-"

"Shut up Pads. I have to talk to you," James said before his friend went into a full blown rant.

"Well… talk!"

"Uh… 'sup"

"You are fucking joking me. I have been woken from my nap for your bullshit, for the last time. Good night."

"Wait no!"

"Then talk," Sirius was getting increasingly impatient.

"Um…"

"Prongs," he said warningly.

"Okay! There's this girl…"

"Aha! I knew it. It was a date."

"No, it was a detention. Technically. At least it was to her. It's so weird, I've never felt like this about a girl."

"Don't leave me to my imagination, Prongs. Tell me about her and your ahem… _detention._"

"She's beautiful, and smart, and sweet and she's Head Girl."

"She's all wrong for you," Sirius said simply.

"What!"

"She's too responsible. And too gentle."

"No! She broke my leg for God's sake. That's a testament to… a lot!"

"I'm just saying, you need someone who keeps you on your toes. Sounds like she'll keep you in line and I'm sure she won't let your children die."

"I think you missed one little detail when you mapped out my happy future. That she's my student."

"Details-shmeetails. Look if you think she's worth it, she's worth it. I know you mate, and better than you know little Prongs," he said with a smirk, "So I know when you feel something in your gut, it's usually right."

"Thanks mate," James felt reassured now. But he knew he should probably get Remus' advice too. _Nah, this is good enough for now._ "Night, Padfoot."

"Yeah yeah." And the mirror went black as James assumed he had put it face down.

**Yes! I win!**

Please tell me he's wrong.

**Why? Don't you think she's hot?**

Of course, but I thought that he would think of a better way.

**There is no better way to have a teacher-student affair!**

There doesn't have to be sex.

… **Excuse me?**

He could wait until she's out of school.

**No. Oh no. I will not stand for that.**

Well there has to be another way.

**I doubt it. And James wouldn't go for that anyways.**

Well, what is he going to do?

**I don't know. James, what are you gonna do?**

Yeah James, what?

_Um, uh…I don't know yet. Listen, I'm making this up as I go._

**A/N:** Thank you to my reviewers, the few that I got. Pleases don't make me threaten. Just review. And special thanks to my beta, MissSaraJean-Jellybean47.


	4. Left

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 4: Left

**A/N:** It has been brought to my attention that I never introduced James' little voices properly. **Prongs **is his bad side and RJ (responsible James) is his (well now, obviously) responsible side. By the way, this is un-betaed. I was too excited that I had stopped procrastinating and finished this chapter.

It's been two weeks since her detention, and Lily was in the middle of DADA. Everyone was working on an assignment, most people in pairs or groups. Professor Potter was passing out old assignments.

"Professor," came the breathy voice of Michaela Gushing next to him. "What did you think of my essay," while batting her eyelashes.

"Um, just fine," he said confusedly. He had put comments on everyone's paper. He continued passing out the rest of the papers.

"Pathetic," Lily murmured.

"_Excuse me_," Gushing said.

_Oops. _Lily thought. She had meant to say that in her head.

"Well, I mean you were kind of obvious there," Lily decided it was best to not lie. She would have seen right through it anyways. "Actually, more like blatantly obvious," she said under her breath.

"Do you want to repeat that?"

"No. If your tone is any indication. Than you already heard me," Lily didn't understand why she was being like this to her. She hadn't done anything to her.

Michaela stood there looking shocked at her.

"Lily," a voice from behind said. Potter was standing behind her, holding a few papers out to her, smiling.

"Thank you, Professor," Lily replied, smiling at him and took her papers. Michaela stomped away. Lily kept doing her work, feeling satisfied.

"Evans," Lily turned around to see Thomas Orpheus standing there. "Can we work together?"

Lily was unsure. She usually worked alone, but she saw Gushing glaring at her and said, "Love to." Gushing was Orpheus' ex-girlfriend.

"Sweet," he said smiling brightly.

_Stupid blond. _James thought bitterly. The boy was flirting with Lily candidly and James was this close to walking over there and telling the boy off. _Wait a second. I'm the professor. I can. _James stood up from his desk and walked straight over to them.

"If you're done chatting I'd like to see what you've got done," he said firmly.

The two were clearly surprised. But Lily handed him her paper and sent a look to Thomas.

"Alright," he handed back her paper, "But enough of your prattle. You're distracting the other students." And he walked away.

Once he was gone Thomas turned to Lily and said, "What a weirdo. You know I don't think he likes me."

"What makes you think that?"

"He just gives me dirty looks and is always cold to me. Unlike everyone else, who he's so nice to."

"Oh I don't think that's true," Lily said quietly.

"Are you joking. Especially you, he loves you."

Lily laughed lightly, "Oh that's silly. He doesn't have favorites."

"I don't know about that, but I do know you'd be my favorite," he said looking into her eyes.

"Oh. You're sweet," she said blushing. He was quite fetching, and rather smart. And damn fine.

"Well I'm serious," he said without breaking eye contact. "Listen, I know we don't know each other too well and I hope you don't think that I'm being too forward, but I was wondering if you'd like to hang out this Friday."

Lily was shocked. Since the beginning of the year, she and Thomas had talked quite a bit, in between classes and before. He was always friendly and nice to her, but she wasn't quite sure. Suddenly the voices of her friends ran through her mind. _He'd be such a great boyfriend. Do you like him? He's fucking hot. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. He seems cool enough. You better have sex with him or I will._

"Sure," she said with a smile.

"Great," he said as the bell rang, "See you later."

"What was that?" a grinning Chloe said with Elizabeth and Emmilia at her side.

"Looks like someone was enjoying a hearty flirt," Elizabeth quipped.

"Oooooo, someone's getting laid on Friday," Emmilia teased.

"You're not cute," Lily said as seriously as she could. She dropped her assignment on Potter's desk.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Chloe asked excitedly.

"He didn't say," Lily realized, "He just asked to hang out Friday." They walked to the door as her friends pondered what Orpheus had in mind for the date. Mostly Chloe and Emmilia with Elizabeth throwing sympathetic looks to Lily. When Lily made an obvious eye roll, Elizabeth decided to step in for her.

"You know what I realized, guys?"

"What?" the girls asked.

"I don't get to be a kid enough," when her friends didn't respond, she continued, "I'm way too mature. I don't relate to most of the kids our age. I get along so well with adults cause they're always like, 'Oh you're so responsible,' except I'm not. I just act old, and I can't stop it. I'm always mature all the time. I don't even understand how one begins to act like a kid. But I have to. I've lived almost all my life as an adult I need a chance to grow up, but I can't because I'm already up!"

"Right," Emmilia said after a pause. But Lily mouthed _Thank You _to her. Elizabeth loves to rant.

The next day in class, it was a lecture day, and Thomas was sitting behind her, talking to her. Lily was kind of hoping he would shut up. He wasn't saying anything very interesting and was distracting her from her notes. She noticed he was laughing at something he had said, so she faked a laugh for him.

"What's with the chatting back there?" Professor Potter screeched at the pair. Lily shrunk into her chair ashamedly, but Thomas smirked at him and sat back with that cocky grin on his face.

"Sorry. Professor," he said cheekily.

_Oh God. I'm gonna kill him. _James thought.

He continued with his lecture, trying to ignore the sour, guilty look on Lily's face. He remembered the very happy, blushy look on her face he saw yesterday. When she told her friends about her _date._

--------------------------------------------------------

"What are you guys gonna do?" Chloe asked excitedly.

"He didn't say," Lily realized, "He just asked to hang out Friday."

James heard this and his jaw dropped. Thankfully the students just walked by him, as he sat at his desk, mouth agape. Soon he noticed that the room was empty. _Hell the fuck no._

James flipped out. Who was this kid? Who did he think he was? Lily was way too good for him. _Stupid blond boy._ He officially hated that little fuck. And he knew he had to do something. Wasn't entirely sure what yet, but Prongs seemed to have a few (slightly illegal) ideas.

--------------------------------------------------------

"So, Lily," Thomas whispered to Lily. "I was thinking about Friday,"

"What about it?" she asked discreetly.

"Well I was thinking, we could skip dinner and go-"

"That's IT!" James yelled. "Detention you two," he said pointing to Lily and Thomas. "Friday night. Seven o'clock."

"What!" Thomas exclaimed.

"You heard me." James was incredibly satisfied with the way blond boy's smirk was ripped off his face.

Lily was surprised at how relieved she felt. She was pissed off at first. _The fuck is his problem?_ But after that she realized, this means no date. He was nice, but she wasn't sure if she had any romantic feelings for him. _Just add another friend to the list, _she thought bitterly. Soon class ended and Lily bolted out of there.

"Lily wait up," it was Thomas. "I'm sorry that was my fault."

"No it's alright," she lied. "It is too bad. I was looking forward to our date," she lied a bit more.

"Oh you don't think I'd give up that easily, did you?" he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh no, no, no. I think I know what you're thinking. I am not skipping detention."

"No, don't worry Miss Head Girl. We wouldn't want to spoil your squeaky clean record."

"I'm not that squeaky clean," she said indignantly.

"Sure you're not. Hey I'm going this way. See you later."

"Bye." And she walked back to the Heads dorm to do her homework.

While she was sitting in her common room, her friends came barging in.

"Lily I am _so_ disappointed in you," Emmilia said standing in front of her with her hands on her hips.

Lily put her head in her hand in a mock thinker stance and said, "Do tell why?"

"You are still going out with Orpheus even though it is clearly killing your illegal lover."

"Oh for God's sake," Lily sighed.

"That's obviously why he gave you detention."

"Illegal… oh I got it," Chloe said smiling.

"I knew he had a thing for you," Elizabeth said wisely.

"You are all insane. I don't know why I hang out with you," Lily said trying to return to her work.

"No, no. we must talk about this. You are clearly in love and don't worry I've already forgiven you for not telling me. I just want to know what you plan to do about it," Emmilia said seriously.

Lily had to admit she felt something towards Potter. It was at the very least lust, but then again what female student of his didn't feel that too. She remembered her detention with him. He had made her laugh and unlike most of the boys she knew, he was able to keep up with her in an intelligent conversation. He listened to what she said, and unlike most of the boys she knew she wasn't bored to death listening to him. It wasn't like other boys weren't good listeners; it was that they were poor talkers.

"Well, he's my professor… but he's quite good looking," she confessed to her friends.

"This is good. Keep going with it," Emmilia said excitedly.

"Well, he's very smart and funny, and… actually I don't know much about him. But I'd like to," she added in a whisper.

"Yes!" Emmilia exclaimed.

"Whoa, right there. You can't be getting a crush on him no matter how great he is," Chloe said, "He's your professor. Even if you _both_ like each other, it couldn't work. I'm sorry."

"Hey, Chloe," Elizabeth said, "Shut up. We all know it's wrong and everything-"

"Elizabeth, please. She's right. It's foolish to think about it," Lily interrupted, looking down at her feet.

"No. Shut up, Lily. Aren't you the one who's all into the 'cosmos'? Talking about how the stars help determine our greater purpose. How many times have you told _me_ that 'the fates must be against you today'? What if this is one of those, Lily. What if it's meant to be?"

"Elizabeth, I see where you're coming from, but it-"

"No buts," she crouched down to Lily and took her hands, looking intently into her eyes, "If it's meant to be, it will be."

At this, Lily couldn't help but believe her. Elizabeth was rarely profound in this way. Whenever she was serious, it was always about people and their people problems and problems with people, not fate like this was.

"Awww, thank you," Lily said wrapping her in a hug. "But I'm still not sure what I'll do," she said looking at her friends with a somewhat frantic look on her face.

"I think you should forget this crush and go with the sensible choice," Chloe chimed in. The three other girls looked at her with confused faces.

"Uh huh. Now what would that be?" Emmilia said skeptically.

"Um, let's see, maybe the guy who's our age that's interested in you, Lily. Thomas," Chloe replied.

"Oh come on," Emmilia stated exhaustedly. "Why have vanilla when you can have chocolate?"

"Mmm. Chocolate," Lily said dejectedly to the floor.

"You do realize she was using a metaphor, right?" Elizabeth told her.

"Well I'm just saying," Lily muttered.

"Anyways," Emmilia began, ready to jump back into her rant.

"No, not anyways," Lily said and jumped up. "We're done here. More importantly, _I'm_ done here. I have work to do and if you guys are just gonna try to sway my feelings, then you should leave, because we all know I am not easily swayed."

Her friends just sighed and turned to leave. Lily held Chloe back though.

"I know you're worried," she said to her sweet friend. "But don't be. It's probably just a schoolgirl crush."

"I know," Chloe assured her smiling. "But people have done stupider for less."

"And for how long have I been stupid?" Lily said. Chloe just smiled and left.

_Actually, I think I've been stupid for a few weeks now. _Lily thought to herself when the portrait hole shut.

Friday came quickly and Lily was nervous. She was thankful that she wouldn't have to be alone in the same room with Potter. She was sure she would do something stupid if they were alone. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

James was in his room getting ready, again. He knew Lily must be angry with him for ruining her date. He was going to go to dinner and then straight back to his office in time for the detention. He went to his two-way mirror and said, "Sirius?"

His friend appeared and so did their other friend Remus.

"Hey Prongs. What's up?" Sirius said, clearly in a good mood.

"Hey Moony. What are you boys up to tonight?" James said trying to sound nonchalant.

"Just hanging before we go out tonight," Remus replied. "What are you doing?" he added, trying to hide the suspicion in his voice.

"Oh nothing. I just needed to talk to Padfoot," giving a pointed look to said friend.

"Is this about the student?" Remus said knowingly.

"Sirius!" James shrieked indignantly. "You told him?"

"You didn't say I couldn't."

"I thought it would be pretty clear he wouldn't approve," James said.

"And you were right for once. I don't," Remus cut in, about to prepare a speech.

"Moony, spare me the lecture, I beg of you," James pleaded.

"Well if you had let me continue, you would know I wasn't about to," Remus said and took a deep breath. "My advice to you is to think about the consequences. And if you find that she's worth the risk, I suggest that you tell her your feelings instead of beating around the bush, and that you make no quips about that last point."

Sirius however, was chuckling at his side.

"Thanks Moony," James said. "Well I gotta go. See you boys around."

When the mirror went black, James laid back in his bed and thinking for a long time. He decided it was best not to let this get out of hand. He knew he might end up doing something stupid and needed to avoid that. _I should talk to her._

For the love of magic! No!

**Don't listen to this fool. But I do have a better idea.**

No, shut up you. I know what you're going to say, and that will only make matters worse.

**This is what you do, James. Poor your little heart out to her, and she'll be putty in your hands.**

No. Just no. If you have any true feelings for her, you'll wait to get to know her more.

**Why wait? You're James Potter. Player extraordinaire. How many women have swooned to you? Who knows? Too many to count.**

Come on, he's an adult now. Please, James. At least pretend to think. You don't even know how she feels about you.

**She's clearly in love. What girl isn't.**

James it's too risky. Even for you.

**Nothing is too risky for us.**

James, please-

**No. Listen, James-**

_Shut up!_

James took a few deep breaths. It was true he didn't know how Lily felt about him. But he did think he caught her looking at him in class a few times. That could have been his imagination though. He couldn't understand why he was so hesitant about all of this. He was usually confident with women and they fell all over him. Even here, the females flocked to him. Except for Lily. She was cool, calm and collected around him, while he got sweaty palm and speechless and stuttering. And if he wasn't stuttering he was ranting on and on. James knew the only way he could find out if this girl had any romantic feelings for him once so ever, was by confronting her.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lily walked out of the library at about a quarter to five Friday and was accosted by Thomas Orpheus.

"Lily," he said.

"Oh Thomas! You scared me," she said jumping back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You ready?" he replied, not sounding too sorry at all.

"Ready?" she said confused. Their detention didn't start until seven.

"Our date?" he said smirking at her.

"Oh… yes, of course," she said. And he took her hand, leading her outside. "Don't you want to get dinner?" she said hopefully.

"Don't you worry about that. It's all taken care of." And he continued to drag her out to the lake, where they found a little picnic set up on a remote bank, sheltered by old oak trees. The sun was just about to go into setting and it shone off the dark blue water brilliantly.

"Wow, Thomas. This is wonderful," she said in awe.

"Well I wasn't about to let a little bump in the road ruin our date," he said sitting down on the blanket and motioning for her to join him.

"You know we could have also just rescheduled," she suggested.

"I also thought that this would make the night evened out," he continued with a smile. Lily chuckled a bit.

They talked about school and such. Thomas dominated most of the conversation, and Lily was thankful, for her mind was elsewhere. He had some sandwiches and assorted picnic food, no doubt nicked from the kitchens. He talked a lot about Quidditch and his friends and what he planned to do after Hogwarts. She was thankful that he was satisfied with her one word answers. She looked at the sky and saw the sun was almost set.

"Look, the sun's setting," she said, cutting in on whatever he was said. And they sat there and watched the sun set. "We should be going," she said looking towards him. She checked her watch. 6:40.

"Yeah," he said looking at her. He didn't move though. He just stared at her with a funny look on his face. Lily stayed sitting there too, looking right back at him, waiting for whatever was about to happen.

He started to lean into her closing his eyes slightly. Lily just looked at him waiting. She felt really awkward. It wasn't romantic. You'd think that with the sunset and the romantic picnic by the lake it would be, but it wasn't. She didn't really want to kiss him, but that would be even more awkward. Lily was shifting her eyes, subconsciously looking for an escape. She sighed inwardly. His mouth was about two inches from hers and his eyes completely shut at this point. So, she closed the gap between their mouths and shut her eyes.

His lips were soft and gentle. He cupped her cheek in one hand and grabbed her waist with the other. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss. Thomas was enjoying this greatly, while Lily, although she admitted he was a good kisser, was hoping this would end soon. It just wasn't what she wanted. He had other ideas though, and tried to get his tongue into her mouth. This is when she pulled away.

"We really gotta go now," Lily said simply. He had a glazed over look in his eyes and a smile across his face. He didn't seem to notice that he just got owned.

"Yeah. Sure," he said nodding and got up. They walked together to detention in silence. Lily felt awkward and was glad they were going to detention where they would have to be silent.

Before they made it to the door, Thomas grabbed Lily by the shoulder and turned her toward him.

"We should do this again sometime," he said cheerfully.

Lily was totally spaced out and was confused. "Detention?"

Thomas laughed a bit. "No, Lily. I meant the date. We should really do it again sometime. I had fun."

_I bet you did. _Lily thought bitterly. She knew what he wanted (no not _that_). He wanted confirmation. She wasn't really sure about that, so decided to keep it vague. "Yeah, maybe," she said and immediately walked through the door.

Professor Potter was, surprisingly, pacing. He had a worried look on his face, and didn't notice them enter.

"Professor," Lily said. James turned with a start.

"Oh, yes. Hello," he said while trying to pull himself together. He went and sat at his desk.

"So, prof. Whatcha got planned for us?" Thomas said making himself very comfortable in the chair in front of Professor Potter's desk.

"Well, Mr. Orpheus you will be serving detention with Mr. Filch doing… God knows what," he replied spitefully through gritted teeth.

"Alright with me," Thomas said cheerfully and jumped up out of the chair. "Where do we meet him?"

"We?" James said, cocking an eyebrow. "Oh, no. The reason you're in detention is because of the ruckus the two of make together. No, you will serve detention with Filch and Lily will serve it here with me. You can go meet him at his office," he finished as pleasantly as he could. He just wanted to punch this kid. He was so arrogant and cocky with no respect to his teachers. He was just like…

"Oh," Thomas said shortly. James had thoroughly wiped the smug smirk off blond boy's face. Nope. There it was again. He turned to Lily and said, "See you later, hon," kissed her on the cheek, gave Potter one last smug look and pranced out.

Lily felt completely awkward. There was this weird tension between the two men she didn't understand. And then there was Thomas' oddness alone. _Did he just call me hon?_

"Ok, Lily," James said finally and stood up, walking over to her. "I thought that you could help me grade my third years' tests. If that's ok with you."

"Oh, yes. Actually, that sounds great," Lily said and sat down in front of his desk.

"Ok. Here's the answer key and you can start with this pile," he said and put a stack of papers on the desk that was at least two feet high.

"How many third years do you have exactly?" Lily said cocking an eyebrow to him.

James just laughed and said, "All of them. But it's not as many as it seems. It was just a long test." Lily laughed along with him and they set to work.

James was very pleased with himself. His work for the weekend was nearly finished, blond boy was probably scrubbing slime from the dungeons, and Lily was seated across from him bent slightly over the desk so he could peak down her shirt a bit as she graded. All together a good night. So far. He still had one more thing to check off on his to-do list, and Prongs' screaming in his head was helping absolutely no one.

**Say it already! She is right there. Tell her or, for God's sake, you will spend the rest of your life alone and blue in the nether region! Do you really want that?**

"Lily-"

"I'm done," Lily interrupted him without noticing.

"Oh," James replied in surprise. Just when he had pulled out all of his Gryffindor courage… "Well, that's all I needed done,"

"So I can leave?" she said earnestly, looking him straight in the eyes.

Looking into her eyes, James was at a loss for words once again. "Uh… yeah," was all he could get out.

"Great. Bye, Professor," she said quickly and grabbed her bag and went to leave.

All of a sudden she was striding across the room to the door. He had missed his chance. She was about to turn that knob and be gone. Without one more word, he would spend another restless night imaging all the ways he could have told her how he felt.

"Lily!" James practically yelled at her and jumped out of his chair. She spun around and watched him as he flew around his desk, his eyes not leaving hers, and walked straight up to her.

"Yes, Professor," she said quietly as she tried to come back from being so startled.

"Don't call me Professor," he said simply. It killed him every time he heard her say it.

"What should I call you then?" she replied, holding his eye contact.

"James," he said simply.

"James," in a small voice.

"I need to tell you something," James started. "I like you. More than a professor should like a student. More like how a man likes a woman. And I know that it's wrong and all, but I can't help it. I think about you all the time. This must sound really weird, but," he heard himself getting more frantic the more he talked. He grabbed her by the shoulders. She just looked at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly parted. "I do. I like you."

Lily stared at him, completely dumbfounded. She didn't know what to do. Her mind was blank. Her palms getting sweaty. When he grabbed her, she took a sharp breath, waiting for his next move. She had imagined this moment only in her dreams and least guarded daydreams.

"Lily?" he said again, moving his hands to her waist and pulling her closer to him, a bit. "Well. How-how do you feel," he had to take a deep breath and look away from her piercing eyes in order to do so. "How do you feel about me? Lily, do you have any romantic feelings towards me?"

His face was very close to hers. Lily felt her entire body shut down. All she could feel was her heart beat, James' breath on her face and his hands on her waist. She had to say something and she couldn't think. He was waiting. This was very important she knew. That thought only made her mind combust further. The first thought that slipped into her mind was something her father had told her when they were driving once. She didn't know why she thought that might help but the next thing she knew, she spoke.

"No."

She turned out of his grasp and walked out. Her mind still nonfunctioning.

"_Whenever you're lost sweety, turn left."_

**A/N: **Quick shout out to my reviewers: , MissSaraJean-Jellybean47, bookworm1011, Isashi Sanada, humanbeing, 99deatheaters, wishfulthinking123, Binka Fudge, llc22.


	5. Blue Eyes

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 5: Blue Eyes

James stood still, staring at the door. His mind was completely blank. _No. _He was wrong. He was completely wrong. He slowly turned from the door and walked to his room. He felt like a zombie. He didn't have any thoughts in his head. The only thing he could think of was a word. Just one word. No.

When he got to his room, he fell on his bed. James replayed the whole evening in his mind from start to finish. He then realized the situation he was in. He, a professor, had just confessed his totally non-platonic feelings to Lily, a student.

_Shit. I'm totally getting fired._

_--_

Lily on the other hand had a million and one thoughts going through her mind. The most prominent however was, _What the fuck am I gonna do, now?_ She had just denied herself something she had been dreaming of since the beginning of the year. She didn't know whether she should tell someone what happened. _Well, I have to tell the girls. Well maybe not Chloe. _She didn't think she really had to tell them because she already knew how each would react. Chloe would have her disappointed face on, Emmilia would make sex jokes to no end, and Elizabeth… well you never know with her, really.

Lily then ran, full sprint to the Gryffindor common room. She spotted her friends sitting by the fire. Lily walked over and tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder.

"I gotta talk to you," she said only to Elizabeth. She knew it would be best to deal with the situation at hand swiftly and strategically.

"Sure," her friend replied and followed her up to the girls' dorm before the others would notice.

"Hurry up," Lily said on the stairs, while pushing on her friend's back trying to make her go faster.

"Calm down. I'm going!" Elizabeth said frustrated. "Now what's the big hoopla about?" she said once they got to her room. Lily was pacing.

"Ok. So, I'm not sure whether I did something stupid or something smart. I could have totally ruined everything or avoided a tragedy. I'm not sure," Lily finally said, looking at her friend but didn't stop pacing.

"Just spit it out, child. Does this have to do with your date with Thomas?"

Lily stopped abruptly and turned to Elizabeth. "How do you know about that?"

"Who do you think told him where you were? He came up to us after classes ended asking where you would be," she stated calmly.

"Well thanks for that," Lily replied bitterly and continued her pacing.

"So, I'm guessing a no on the Thomas question, right?"

"You're damn right!" Lily said. She sighed and sat down dejectedly on her bed and Elizabeth sat next to her.

"Come on what is it?" Lily just gave her a sad, scared, pointed look. "You better tell me before the other two decide that they want to hear from you too."

That was all it took for Lily to start spilling it all. She started with Thomas accosting her outside of the library and ended with her leaving a heartbroken James behind. Elizabeth had kept a straight face through it all and kept quiet. When she didn't say anything else Lily said, "So…"

"So, you've got a problem on your hands. Actually, you've got two problems."

"Elizabeth, you're not helping. I need feedback, input, and commentary."

Elizabeth sighed and said, "First off, who do you like?"

"Well, not Thomas."

"So, Professor it is. Ok then, why did you say no? I want exact thought process."

"Nothing really; I drew a complete blank. Finally, the first thing to come to mind was this little thing my dad told me when I was little. 'Whenever you're lost turn left.' So, I did," Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Lily it was a yes or no question, not a damn fork in the road," Elizabeth replied finally showing some emotion.

"Well, you see, when he said it, it felt important. Like one of those life lessons you keep with you," Elizabeth sighed at this. She already knew where it was going. "So, I applied it to the real world. I saw right as 'yes' and left as 'no'. Did you ever notice how in class, if I totally zone out and the teacher asks me to answer something I didn't hear, I say no. Well, it works. Like 90 percent of the time it's right. I've used that ever since."

Elizabeth just gave her a blank stare. "Lily, understand my harsh tone here when I say," she said in a gentle voice. "_He was talking about_ DRIVING!"

"No need to scream!" Lily yelled back.

"Well clearly there is. Obviously, you are an idiot!"

"Well I'm sorry that I believe in a little thing called a metaphor," Lily said in a huff.

"Alright, this is what I believe. One, you are an idiot. Two, student teacher relationships are forbidden at this school, and even if they aren't for some reason, no teacher has gotten away with it without serious parental backlash. And finally three," she looked Lily in the eyes long and hard with an unreadable expression, "in your words 'You don't get a second chance everyday, and any day could be your last.'"

Lily remembered saying that. She had said it to Emmilia when her ex asked to have her back. She had missed him so much. Emmilia had felt like a fool for letting it end, but didn't think it would work out. Lily thought back to that day last year. She had also said that not everyone gets to experience true love. She also said that was true because most people don't seem to realize that you only live once. Needless to say, Emmilia took him back.

"So, you think I should go for it?" Lily said.

"I said nothing of the sort," she cried in a disclaiming way. "I also don't seem to remember the last… oh I don't know," she said looking at her watch, "ten to fifteen minutes? So, what were you saying, Lily?"

Lily smiled and said, "Oh nothing, just that I love you." Lily sat there a while after Elizabeth left, and did what she does best. She thought of a plan.

She knew the best option would be to talk to him, but that was also the least desirable option. There was also leaving it alone, but that also was quite undesirable too. She knew she had to tell him in a personal way, but she also did not want to look at him or she would end up doing something even stupider. Then it hit her. A letter! It was so simple and affective she felt so smart by coming to that thought.

Lily ran to her room so that she wouldn't get caught by her friends for date details. When she got to her room she checked the clock and it was well past eleven, her usual bedtime was ten. She ended up taking a shower and getting herself ready for bed. Once she stepped out of the bathroom, she regretted it. Standing in the corner of her room looking the most foreboding she had ever seen it, was her desk. Inside it was her stationary and an assortment of beautiful quills with fine inks.

She stood leaned up against the door frame of her bathroom looking across her room at the harbinger of doom.

"What'd it do to you?" a voice from behind said. Lily jumped and turned around quickly to see the clear blue eyes of the Head Boy Colin Crags looking at her gently.

"Damn it, Colin. You scared me," she said. She forgot they had an adjoining bathroom. He probably had to go pee and caught her trying to stare down her desk.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "So, what did it do?"

Lily looked back at the desk dejectedly. "It holds the promise of a possible rejection and certain embarrassment," she stated profoundly.

"Oh. Of course."

"Yes." She stood there for a moment, still staring at the desk.

"It's not going anywhere, you know," he said again.

Lily sighed, "Yeah, I know. That's sort of the problem. I think it's even getting closer."

Colin laughed at this. "I never knew you were so paranoid." Lily smiled a bit but didn't look any more relieved. "Homework isn't that scary, plus you have all of tomorrow and the next-"

"It's not homework. And why are you coming in so late, Colin?"

"Don't try to change the subject… at least not until you learn a bit mare about subtlety," at this she laughed a bit more heartily. "So what is wrong?"

"It's a long story." But he stood there unblinkingly. "Ok, then. So, there's a guy… don't give me that knowing look when you're so not," she reprimanded his face.

"Sorry, continue."

"As I was saying, this guy, and well long story short, I totally botched it," she finished hoping her lame explanation would suffice. The look on his face said otherwise.

"And…"

"And well, he told me that he likes me and I told him that I didn't. And then I ran away." Colin started laughing hard.

"You don't have to be an arsehole about it! I already realized I'm an idiot!" Lily exclaimed.

"I still don't understand what the desk did to you." Lily didn't answer for a while.

"I'm going to write him a letter."

"Ooh. I see. Well, I'll leave you to that." He turned to leave.

"Please don't!" she said desperately.

"What do you want me to do?" he replied looking at her confused and incredulous.

"I don't know, just, tell me what to do," she whined.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I've never tried to get a guy back," he tried saying with a chuckle.

"Not funny right now," Lily said in all seriousness.

"Alright," Colin sighed seeing as she really was begging for help. "You just need to write from the heart. Starting is half the battle."

"I didn't realize it would be a battle."

"Love and war often use the same tactics."

"That sucks."

"Haha! Yeah but the ends are often worth their means."

"What is with the totally sweet proverbs right now? Did you hear them somewhere, or are they original?"

"I suppose it comes with being a Ravenclaw."

"Yeah," Lily said. "So where were you tonight?"

Colin started laughing again. "As if, Lily," he then ruffled her hair and turned to shut the door.

"Oh come on, Colin. Where were you?"

"Good night, Lily. You have a letter to write and I have to go pee. Thus, I bid thee good night." And he slammed the door on her face.

Lily huffed at the door. Then she slowly turned around and stared at the desk a bit more. She cocked her head to the side, glaring at it accusingly. "Now you don't like me and I don't like you," she said as she walked slowly towards the desk. "But we have some business to deal with right now and have to work together. So let's get to it, and please. Go easy on me."

She sat down at the desk. With a renewed vigour, she pulled out some stationary, a quill, and in her favourite shiny black ink she wrote,

_Dear James,_

...Then nothing. She looked at the paper wondering how to start. _I'm sorry…_ no, not at all. _I didn't mean it… _well I had. _I love you …_ well let's not get ahead of ourselves here. She needed advice. She contemplated asking Colin but then decided against it. She realized that what she needed was a few words of wisdom from Ol' Blue Eyes. She turned on the radio. A few years ago, she had become a bit of an insomniac and stayed up going through the stations on the radio. She found this one very remote one that played mostly Sinatra late at night. She flipped it on and just listened.

"Hello, easy listeners out there. Welcome back to another block of sweet songs from some smooth voices," said the gentle voice of Billy Bucker, the voice Lily had fallen asleep to many a-night. "Here's a personal favourite of mine that I know you all love as well. It's Frank Sinatra's 'The Way You Look Tonight'. Enjoy."

He was right. Lily absolutely loved this song. Her father sung her the old classics a lot when she was a little girl. He was always very fond of Frankie though. He would sit her on his knee at night after diner most nights and sing his favourites to her. Petunia wasn't too interested in music so didn't join in. Her father had such a great voice and she still asked him to sing for her often.

She remembered one day after playing outside, when she was about eight, she ran in the house to get some water. When she was about to get into the kitchen something caught her sight. Her mother and father were dancing very slowly and very closely, and he was singing softly to her 'Strangers in the Night'. It was that day that she found out why her father was so partial to Sinatra. Later when she asked him about it, he told her how he and mom got together.

They were both at a dance and he fell hard for her. She was by far the prettiest girl in the room. Lily seemed to get her looks and charm from her mother and personality from her father. Her mother was more of a sweety while her father was stubborn as a mule. Her father wasn't exactly a fashion model, but he knew he had to talk to her. So, he asked her to dance. She said yes and they began dancing. He was a bit discouraged since she wasn't looking at him much. The band's singer was not exactly top notch, so when he heard them begin to play 'Strangers in the Night' he couldn't stop himself from singing it softly. When he saw her smile, he leaned in and sang gently in her ear.

"I knew I wasn't the coolest guy, or the best looking, or charming, but I had the best voice out of all the guys in town, and I knew it. And needless to say, ever since that night we've been together."

Lily smiled at the old memory. She remembered how she hoped one day she could find a love like her parents had. With a smile on her face, Lily took the quill in her hand and wrote easily, without questioning herself for once in her life.

--

James paced his room, occasionally looking at the mirror to give himself a dirty look. He finally stopped and stared long and hard in the mirror. There was nothing he could do now, except wait. The fact that he would be in deep trouble was completely out of his mind at that point. All he could think about is what he could have done to make her stay or what he could have said differently to change the look on her face.

James absentmindedly changed out of his clothes for bed. He lay down in bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time, unable to close his eyes. He turned on the radio to see if that would help, but all that was on were late night rock shows. He fiddled with the dials until he found a station that sounded good. The song playing was slow and sweet and coming to an end. James threw the covers back over himself and listened. The song that came on after it was a slow, old song and the singer had a smooth, light baritone. He recognized it immediately.

It was an old Sinatra classic. His grandmother had always preferred Muggle music to wizard music. She said you couldn't trust a witch or wizards voice because lord knows what they did to it. She would play his records on the old victrola that her mother gave her, that was until she got a better record player but they still kept her victrola for sentimental reasons.

The song was 'Baby Won't You Please Come Home'. James empathized with Frankie then. He now understood what it was like to hope that she'd come back. He couldn't stop himself from singing along with it.

Baby won't you please come home  
'Cause your daddy's all alone  
I have tried in vain  
Never no more to call your name

When you left you broke my heart  
Because I never thought we'd part  
Every hour in the day  
You will hear me say:  
"Baby come home"

Baby won't you please come home?

Because your daddy's so alone

I have tried in vain

Never no more to ever call your name

When you left you broke my heart

Because I never thought we'd part

Every hour in the day you will hear me say

"Baby come on home" daddy needs baby

Baby wont you please come home?

He soon fell asleep with the radio playing and a sad smile on his face.

--

Lily finished the letter and sat back in her chair. She took a deep breath and just listened to the music for a minute. 'Baby Won't You Please Come Home'. It was at the last verse. Lily sighed with a smile on her face and sang out the last line then looked down at her letter with a grin on her face. She would send it first thing in the morning before breakfast.

**A/N: **I contemplated putting in her letter, but decided to make you guys sweat it out. It was a very tough decision. Super thanks to my reviewers from the last chapter. Ahem, **Binka Fudge, kit, Isashi Sanada, bookworm1011, MissSaraJean-Jellybean47, humanbeing, Magical words from Muggle pens, accioizzy, VampireRebel, Jessica123, mrsbrandonflowers. **Now if you would like to be on the VIP list, there's only one thing you have to do. Drop me a line.

P.S. Any Sinatra fans such as myself (Dear God, let there be some) who are nit-picky, I do realize 'Strangers in the Night' came out in 1966, and that Lily was born in 1960. But so was James, so if you're reading this story that is clearly not a problem. Just pretend for me.


	6. Get Ready

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 6: Get Ready

James woke up to the blaring view of a sunrise. He groped around for his wand and eventually found that he was laying on it. He pointed it at the window and the curtains shut. He rolled over onto his side and tried to shut his eyes. It was all to no avail. He couldn't get back to sleep.

He swung his legs onto the floor and groaned as his back followed into a straight up position. James then dragged himself into the bathroom to get ready for the day, dreading what will happen. Perhaps he could just stay in his office all day and get fired Monday? No, he needs coffee to still be awake at noon.

--

Lily woke up to the quite unwelcome sound of birds annoying chirps. _Bird songs my ass. I've never heard a bird sing. Just chirp and tweet like the little fucks they are!_

Reluctantly, she trudged herself to the bathroom and got in the shower. When she got out of the shower she looked at the clock. 9 o'clock. Much too early. She got dressed and was about to leave when she realized she was forgetting something.

The letter! Lily ran over to her desk and pulled it out of the drawer. She prayed that James hadn't left for breakfast yet. She went over to her little tawny owl, Ginger, and attached the letter to her leg.

"Go, hurry before he leaves," Lily said as she pushed Ginger out of the window. She sighed in relief when Ginger was out of sight. "Now, breakfast. Today shall be interesting to say the least."

--

James was standing at his door wondering whether or not he should risk walking into the Great Hall or not. There was still a chance that nobody knew. Lily was kind and sweet after all. Would she tell? Did she?

_Tap tap tap. _

James spun around and looked around the room. He saw nothing.

_Tap tap tap._

Where the hell…

_Tap tap tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap tap._

Damn it, oh there. He saw an adorable little tawny owl outside his window. James thought, _Crap they're gonna fire me like this. _

James slowly walked towards the window. The little owl was tapping incessantly and James was sure it was about to smash through any second. The little devil seemed to have a temper. He let it in finally. It dropped a letter in front of his feet and then perched itself on his pillow.

"What do you think you're doing you little squirrel?" he said to the owl as he picked up the letter. James noticed the neat, familiar writing. _James._

James held it tightly in his hands staring at it. It wasn't from Dumbledore clearly, it was from Lily. The owl hooted suddenly. "What?" he said to it. It flew to the end of the bed and hooted again. "What do you want?" he said getting a bit more frustrated. It suddenly flew up to him, took the letter in its mouth, and dropped it on his bed. It sat down directly next to the letter and looked up at James expectantly.

James picked up the letter cautiously while staring at the owl. "I can totally see you being Lily's owl." He slowly tore open the letter and pulled it out. He dropped the envelope next to the little ginger colored owl. "Do I want to know," he asked it. "Did she bitch me out, tell me she ratted on me? What?" he continued talking to it as if it would answer him. "What are you still doing here anyways? Whatever." He took a deep breath and looked down at the little owl once more. It looked up at him with hopeful eyes and was now perched on the edge of his bed. "Here goes nothing." He unfolded the letter and began to read.

_Dear James,_

_I can't believe I had said that to you. The look on your face killed me. It was not only cruel but dishonest of me. I suppose I wasn't just lying to you, but to myself. I didn't want to believe that I could really have these feelings for a teacher. I know that you are probably very mad at me right now and I wish that saying sorry is enough to get you to forgive me. I also wish that just being around you didn't send my heart into a fit, and that looking into your eyes wouldn't make my palms so sweaty. I wish most of all though, that I could tell you this all in person, but I obviously can't for the previously stated reasons. Please forgive me, I'm sorry._

_Forever Yours,_

_Lily Evans_

James read the letter at least six times. He sat down at the end of his bed and the little owl perched on his thigh and hooted lightly. He smiled down at the little ginger and said, "You could have told me instead of letting me worry like that," as he pat its head gingerly. The owl nipped his finger affectionately and flew out the window suddenly. James had the biggest grin on his face. He jumped up and started jumping around his room. "YES!!"

--

Lily was so nervous; she could feel her stomach flipping over and over as she walked into the Great Hall.

"Lily! My love!" Lily heard Emmilia behind her and she could hear her friend's feet pounding against the stone floor. Lily turned just in time to be pummelled by Emmilia. "Where were you woman? We want to hear everything."

"We?"

"Yes… oh where'd she get to? Whatever, not my fault Chloe's a slow runner. Sit." Emmilia pushed Lily into a seat at the Gryffindor table and sat next to her. "And talk."

"What about?" Lily said distractedly as she was trying to discreetly check out the teacher's table.

"What about? What do you think- there you are, way to be slow, Chloe," Emmilia said as Chloe slid in next to Lily.

"What'd she say? Has she told you yet?"

"No, I haven't said anything. And you know, I don't think I will," Lily said and began to fill her plate.

"Lily…" Chloe began suspiciously. "You're nervous, aren't you? Why?"

"No reason, I mean! I'm not!" she said quickly.

"Hah!" said Emmilia. "You love him, you want to marry him," she sang.

"Hey Lily" said a masculine voice behind Lily. She spun around quickly, but was disappointed. It was Thomas Orpheus. Lily suddenly felt guilty and embarrassed. Thankfully Emmilia had enough tact to shut her mouth.

"Oh, hey Thomas." She kind of sat there for a while as he stood in front of her. "Um, can I talk to you?" she said getting up.

"Yeah," he replied excitedly. They walked slowly out of the Hall. When they were out Thomas took Lily's hand and she pulled him off to the side. "You're up early," he said suddenly.

"What do mean?"

"Well, I mean on weekends you usually sleep in," he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh well, the fucking birds woke me up so…" she said simply. He laughed at this and pulled her closer to him by holding her around the waist.

"I love hanging out with you," he said sweetly.

_Oh gosh, he's so wonderful. I'm such an ass. _

"Listen Thomas," she began as she pulled his arms off of her. "Um, I guess first of all, I had a great time last night-"

"Me too. Like I said I love hanging out with you," he said trying to pull her in again while she deflected.

"Thanks, but I think we should just be friends. I like you but I just don't like you that way. Can we still be friends?" she said somewhat quickly.

Thomas' face fell instantly and his hands fell to his sides. He looked at her sadly but then he began to grin a bit. He took one of her hands in his and said, "Lily, no."

Lily didn't understand what he meant. She tilted her head to the side and asked, "What do you mean, Thomas?"

"I can't be your friend, Lily." His grin was turning almost mischievous and slowly creeping Lily out. "No man can look at you as a friend, I promise. And I like you Lily, so no. I understand that you're trying to get rid of me, but you won't. And you can't. Like I said, I like you, so I think I'll stick around with you."

Lily was thoroughly confused. "Um, Thomas, you sort of don't have a say in this. I don't want to go out with you," she tore her hand out of his, "I'm sorry. Don't take this hard, I mean we've only had one date after all."

"Lily, do you know how many of my friends tried to convince me not to ask you out?" he said sharply. Any sign of a grin was gone. "All of them. Why? Because all of them know how many guys you've turned down. And like this. They said that you're a heartless bitch, but I had to say no!" He was beginning to get a bit frantic and a lot louder. "I thought, you know, maybe I could be the one who wasn't 'the friend'. But look here. I was WRONG wasn't I?"

"Thomas be quiet, you're making a scene," Lily tried to whisper harshly to him. She had noticed that the Great Hall had gone rather quiet.

"I think the only reason no one thinks you're a lesbian is because you usually hook up with a guy before you dump them on their ass! But no I don't even get that. What the fuck? That's so unfair. Do you hate me that much? Am I that repulsive to you?" he continued to yell.

Lily was fed up and yelled back, "Shut the fuck up, will you?! For Christ's sake, you are such a _dick_! I am so glad I'm getting rid of you," and Lily slapped him and turned to walk away. She didn't like these silly teenager fights.

Thomas grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her back to him. He took a laboured, deep breath with closed eyes then opened his eyes significantly calmer. "I'm sorry. That was stupid of me, please forgive me. I really want to be with you, Lily," he said taking her hands in his.

"Hmm… _no!_" and she left. He ran after her.

"Lily, just come back here and talk to me."

"Why don't you just trip, fall in a ditch and die there!!" she screamed over her shoulder and started running. He was close behind and she just wanted to get to her common room away from him. She heard him still yelling after and ran faster. She tried looking over her shoulder and ran into someone. 'Crap' Lily thought.

James looked down at her. She was clearly surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Oh," she said "Hello."

"Hi," he smiled sweetly at her.

_So he got the letter, _she thought. She looked away from him, blushing.

"So…" he began thinking of what to say."What are you running from?"

Just then she heard running feet behind her. He was gaining on her. "Not important" she said looking back at James. "Come on," she said as she grabbed his hand and ran into a classroom. She shut the door and pushed her ear up against it. "Lily!" she heard from outside and then leaving footsteps. At this, Lily sighed.

"Orpheus?" James said sharply from behind her.

"Yeah, he was being an ass so I was trying to get rid of him. He couldn't seem to take the hint though."

"Oh," James replied sheepishly. He then looked her in the eyes with a huge grin. Lily looked away from his gaze. He stared too intently at her for her liking at the moment.

"Well, I guess if the coast is clear I should go," she turned to leave but was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder. Lily looked up and saw James' handsome face mere inches from hers.

"No, I don't think the coast _is_ clear, Lily," James said with a crooked grin. His hands came to her waist and gripped onto her sides like she was his life preserver. Lily gulped. She didn't understand the look in his eyes. It was giddy and goofy and hopeful all at the same time. She couldn't help but smile at him. He was so cute like that. All vulnerable and about to kiss her. _Kiss me?! _Yes, didn't you catch on? I mean look at his face! _Yeah, I guess maybe you're right. _Can I continue? _Oh, yes please! _

James pulled her closer to his body slowly until she was totally flush against him. "So d-did you get my l-letter?" Lily said as his face was coming closer to hers.

"Oh, yes I most certainly did," he answered without slowing down. Soon his mouth was hovering over hers and he was staring deep into her eyes. She knew that her face must be brick red at this point.

"Well, do you forgive me?" she said weakly. He chuckled lightly.

Then his lips were on hers and they were gentle and strong, clearly in control. The hands on Lily's hips gripped her even tighter and pulled her even closer. He kissed her as she slid her hands over his chest and to his shoulders. She pulled him down hard by the collar of his shirt so that she could dominate. With their heads tilted to the side, the kiss deepened. It was strong and passionate and they felt the emotions in one another that they had locked up for what felt like their whole lives. The sweetness and caring that they had denied themselves to express flooded to the other through the connection made with their lips. James let go first.

"Lily," was all he could get out breathlessly.

"James," she replied simply.

"Lily," he said once again with a huge beautiful smile on his face as his hand pushed away a wisp of her auburn hair. While he was at it, he let his hand fall into it. He had dreamt of touching it ever since he first saw her. His other hand cupped her face and his thumb traced her jaw line. He pulled her chin up to his face and kissed her short and sweet. They stayed like that for a while, just kissing. Not making out, or sucking face, or hardly even moving much. Just taking each other in for what they were. Both were trying to take in the whole situation, but neither getting past the fact that at that moment, they were together. And nothing was going to stop them from wading in the pool of the sweet promises that it held.

When James let go of Lily's lips, her eyes were still closed. He smiled down at her, though she couldn't see it. When she did open her eyes, her face was full of peaceful bliss. She smiled fully up at him and he simply smiled back. All of a sudden James started laughing lightly.

"What?" Lily asked innocently.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied letting his laughter die down. "I just thought that I should probably give you detention for putting me through that last night." Lily laughed too.

"I should hope not."

"Don't worry. I'll let it slide this time, Miss Evans," he said kissing her forehead. "Let's get out of here."

He took her hand and pulled her out of the classroom checking both ends of the corridor and hearing nothing. They then half walked half ran to the Head's common room and were blessed for not seeing any one on their way to their destination.

"Wait," Lily said. "I'll go see if Colin is in there. You wait here." She then walked in to see that it was empty. She went up and knocked on Colin's door. There was no answer. She knocked a few times and got nothing. She decided to chance a peek inside. She opened the door a crack and felt blessed to see his bed had been slept in and one of his drawers was still open.

James was waiting outside waiting for Lily. He didn't know what they were doing here, but he just wanted to be alone with her. "Psst," he heard from behind him. He turned and saw Lily. "Coast is clear." And then she pulled him into the common room by his shirt. Once inside she kissed him long and hard.

"So, I'm guessing Colin's out?" James managed to say. Lily laughed at him and let her arms rest around his neck.

"Yes, he most certainly is," she replied looking up at him. She then went over to the couch and sat down. He followed her and threw his arm over her shoulder and continued to kiss her neck. James grinned against her neck when she giggled. "James, please contain yourself for a moment. We have to talk."

"No," he mumbled.

"Well too bad for you," she said pushing off his chest to get him away. But alas, he was much stronger than her and held tight to her waist.

"Oh yeah? Too bad for _me?_" he let out with a chuckle.

"Well, while you're at that, I suppose I'll talk." James snorted at this but continued his ministrations. "So, I'm guessing… can you please stop! You are making it very hard to concentrate!" she yelled pushing him off, this time succeeding.

"Okay, whatever," he said and reluctantly detached himself from her neck. "Talk."

"So what does this all mean?" she said quickly.

"What do you mean?" he said confusedly.

"I mean," Lily continued reluctantly. She had never had a reason to ask this and never anticipated she would have to. "What are we?" she spat out looking him deep in the eyes. She was told a long time ago by her dad that when you ask a question that you want an honest answer for, you should look them deep in the eyes. It makes it harder for them to lie.

"What do you want us to be?" he replied nervously.

Lily thought about it long and hard and wondered.

"Hey," James said trying to pull her out of her thoughts and back to him. "What'cha thinking?"

She looked back at him. "Well, I want a relationship, but at the moment that isn't the most practical option. Then again it could just be a casual thing but I know I wouldn't like thinking of you with another girl. I'm more of an exclusive person," she added quickly not wanting him to think she was clingy or jealous. Cause she's not. _Damn straight, narrator. _Stop interacting with me! "We could both wait. But that would be a long wait-"

"Lily!" James said. "Stop listing options and just tell me what you want. Because I'll give you whatever you want. You just need to tell me what that is."

No guy had ever asked what Lily wanted, just what they wanted. They always wanted to be with her, to date her, keep it casual with her. They never found out what she wanted until she dumped them.

"I just want to be with you. But to be honest, I don't know if I'm ready to."

--

**VIR: **(very important readers)

Miranda River, LilyEvans000, Julie AV, wishfulthinking123, Binka Fudge, humanbeing, Jessca123, Isashi Sanada, VampireRebel, LilyCalliePotter, llc22, , MissSaraJean-Jellybean47. **And as an author's note, sorry about the whole waiting thing. I know it sucks.**


	7. Keep

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 7: Keep

James looked at Lily for a moment. Then, he smiled a little.

"I don't understand," he said simply. "Like… is that a no on the relationship front?"

"Not necessarily."

"Not _necessarily_?" James repeated.

"Well, first off, it would be completely impractical for us to begin a relationship anyways. Also we are both at totally different times in our lives, I mean how good of a relationship will this be? We could never be open completely. It'd be totally dysfunctional," Lily finished, thinking her explanation was perfect and made total sense.

"That makes no sense," James said sharply. He was still in a bit of shock.

"It makes perfect sense," Lily said indignantly. "Maybe you're just too stupid to comprehend it," she finished with a dramatic arm crossing.

"Or," James began, slowly getting riled up, "I'm smart enough to realize that you're stupid and have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know exactly what I'm talking about. It's my mind at work here, is it not?"

"You know," he said with a smirk "that is exactly the problem."

Lily was aghast. "What?"

"You think too much and that's the problem, so maybe you should just shut up," James finished and leaned back comfortably on the couch. Then a pillow came crashing down on him. "What the fuck!?"

"Don't you tell _me _to shut up, James Potter," Lily said after she felt she had pummelled him sufficiently.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry, please keep thinking and talking," he replied, getting down on his knees in a praying stance in front of a fully, pillow armed Lily.

"Well," Lily began all suspenseful. "I suppose I can forgive you… this time," she finished letting her smirk break through.

"Oh, thank you!" he said, matching her dramatics and kissing her feet. He then proceeded to pick her up bridal style, Lily giggling the whole time.

"James! Put me down."

"I apologize milady, but alas, I cannot. I must make up for my terrible infraction," James said. He began to ravage her neck and walk towards a door opposite the one he came in through. Lily could not stop giggling. James pushed the door open with his foot and proceeded inside. "And now milady," James began, finally detaching himself from her neck, "I pay you back for your kind and undeserved forgiveness," he finished with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

He laid her down on the bed with her looking up at him smiling broadly. "And how do propose to do that, sirrah?" Lily said looking up at him haughtily, playing along, from her position on the bed.

"Oh, you shall see milady." James swooped down gracefully and was now on top of her, kissing Lily passionately. His hands gripped her waist possessively, pulling her body ever closer to his. Lily's hands roved over his chest and latched behind his neck, letting her whole body mold against his. They stayed like that for a while, revelling in the feel of each other and the sound of each other's breathing while in such intimate contact. Trying to get at skin through solid clothing and to fuse into the other through their kiss.

Lily found her way to the hem of his shirt and pulled it up in one fluid motion. With the broken contact they were able to meet each other's eyes. James stared straight into her sparkling green eyes. He felt like the luckiest man in the world to be with Lily right then. Looking into her eyes, he knew he would never let anything or anyone come between them and he knew he would be with her forever.

His eyes scorched through her and she didn't know if she could take another second of it. She felt like he could see right into her, through all the walls of perfection and pretence she had so meticulously built, as if they weren't even there. Lily couldn't take it anymore. She kissed him again, softer this time, letting her hands touch his now bare, hot chest. Lily was sitting up with James kneeling over her. He was bent low, practically hovering over her because he was so much taller than her. He sat back at bit and inched forward, still in their kiss, so that he could be closer to her level.

Lily felt something hard against her stomach that spurred the fire in her veins to double in contents, so that there was no more blood left. Only the burning fire that was heightening and blurring her senses at the same time. She was in a fiery haze of emotion without logic or even any coherent thoughts. There was only what she felt to decide her actions. She flipped James over so that she was on top of him straddling him and the hard thing that awakened this animal from the base of her spine up out of her.

Lily started sucking and nibbling down James' neck. He felt as though his chest was about to open up any second and his whole being would pour out and into Lily for her to keep. She was ridding his clothed pelvis, subconsciously, to match her upper body's movements. After a moment, he realized his hands had been at his side for most of this experience and they immediately jumped up to touch her. Anywhere he could reach he was grasping and caressing. From her shoulders to her back to her waist and her hips, and then her grabbed her ass tightly and used it as the anchor to pull her into him. He pulled her harshly while simultaneously thrusting his groin at her.

"Oh!" they groaned together at the sudden pulsing friction. Lily pulled her face away from his collar bone, which she had been marking up thoroughly, to shove her tongue down his throat and take in more of his sweet taste. Her hands shot down to his belt and started pulling at it to satiate the burning pressure inside her core. "Oh, Lily," James moaned into her mouth when one of Lily's furious hands hit his cock, intensifying the friction induced erection.

"Lily?" said a voice that wasn't James' but was immediately recognizable. A completely male voice Lily was not excited to hear at her given state. She froze over James and her eyes shot open. James' eyes were open too. Lily leaned back still straddling James as he kept himself pressed against the bed. "W-why are you in my room?" said the voice. Lily turned her head to the side slowly, catching only a fleeting glimpse of a confused and worried Colin Crags at the door way before she snapped her head back to stare at the wall. They hadn't even heard the door open.

"Um. I-I uh…" Lily stuttered.

"I," Colin said strongly, "Will be in the common room. Come out, uh, soon," he faltered a bit at the end. The couple heard the door shut behind him.

Lily looked down at James. Their eyes mirrored the humiliation and fear. 'What will Crags do?' Lily thought. 'He's a good student, Head Boy. Will he rat us out?'

"What do we do?" James asked weakly.

"I don't know," Lily replied honestly. She had absolutely no idea what would happen.

"I'll stay here," James began decisively. He thought about exactly how it had happened. Crags came in through the door they had, which was facing Lily's back. There was a possibility that she had blocked his view from James' face. "You go out and talk to him. Don't mention me unless he talks about me. If that happens, fetch me and I'll handle damage control, ok?" Lily nodded, still in shock. "Breath, dear. It will be fine; I promise nothing bad will happen. Can you do all that flower?" she nodded again.

Finally, she stood up. She straightened out her clothes, jeans and a tee shirt. She walked toward the door but hesitated for the handle. With a look back at James, who had just pulled his shirt back over his head, he smiled reassuringly and she stepped out the door.

Colin was sitting on the couch looking into the fire, almost peacefully. He did seem, however, a bit tense. When the door shut, his head spun around to Lily. He took a deep breath and smiled at her. He then patted the seat next to him on the couch for Lily to take. She walked over hesitantly and sat down.

"So," Colin said. "Why my room?"

Lily looked over at his face, and burst out laughing, and couldn't stop. "Well, I'd like to know," Colin said quietly, looking back to the fire.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lily said as she calmed down. "I don't know why I laughed. It wasn't funny."

"Well… an answer?"

"I guess he didn't know which room was mine."

"Ah," he replied simply, "So it was like that. And you were too occupied to notice…"

"Pretty much…" Then they sat in silence for a bit. "I'm sorry," Lily said.

"It's ok. Just, well, you guys didn't, I mean it's my bed I should know. Did you like…_have sex_ there?" Lily laughed a bit at this.

"No, don't worry, we didn't."

"Ok, good. Well who is this guy?"

"Uh…" Lily thought back to what James had said. "You didn't recognize him?" she decided to find out exactly what Colin knew first.

"No, I didn't see his face. Seemed familiar though," he said indifferently.

"Oh ok then. I'll get him out of there." A plan hatched in her mind so that their secret didn't get out already. "Listen, how about you go into my room and I'll let him leave. I think he's been sufficiently embarrassed. Don't you?"

Colin looked up at her with a pensive look for a brief moment. "Sure," he said and got up and walked into Lily's room.

"That was easy," Lily said to herself. "Let's hope it's always this easy." She then walked back into Colin's room where James was and leaned against the shut door and let out a soft sigh. "We're clear."

James too let out a sigh. He had been sitting on the window sill looking out worriedly. "Thank God. Lily, I'm so sorry. I thought this was your room honestly."

"It's ok. Wait, why did you think this was my room?"

"It was the Head Girl's when I was a student," he replied simply.

Lily couldn't help herself. She smirked up at him, "And how exactly would you know which room was whose?"

"Hey hey," James started warningly. "It's not what you think. It was Sirius. He had a sloppy, drunk evening with her and I was called in for clean up."

"Oh yes of course. Whatever, it doesn't matter to me now. I got him in my room to wait while I shoo you out, to supposedly save you more embarrassment. He didn't recognize you."

James smiled down at her sweetly and he put his arms around her. "Thank you. I'm sorry again. We need to go through some details of our arrangement here so as to avoid these situations. Owl me with what you think, ok?"

"Sure, although I'm not entirely sure of what our arrangement is."

"Ah, yes. But see, that's why you need to owl me when you do," he said good-heartedly and kissed her head. He then looked serious again. "I think you know how I feel about it." And with a final sweeping kiss on the lips, he left the room and out the portrait hole back to his study.

Lily sighed contently and sat on the bed for a moment. Finally, she moved to the door herself. When she opened it, Colin was directly in front of it.

"Ah! Colin, what the hell?"

"Sorry, I was just wondering what was taking so long," he replied innocently.

"Oh, I didn't realize. I'm sorry, it's just that you startled me. Anyways, your room, sir." Lily held out her arms as if welcoming a guest to his room.

Colin laughed a bit and entered. Lily went to her room and laid down on the bed. The curtains were open and she could see the sky. It looked like rain. There was no sun and the sky was clouded over. There was something menacing in it but beautiful. She stood up and walked to the window. A lightning bolt struck down just over the horizon. Lily grabbed a sweat shirt hanging by the door and threw it on. She walked out of the common room and down the stairs. As she passed by a window, she noticed it had gotten darker in the past few minutes since she had left her dorm.

"Ms. Evans? Where are you off too?" Professor McGonagall said, suddenly behind her.

"Just outside, Professor."

"I don't advise that. There's supposed to be a storm soon," she said warningly.

"No need to worry, Professor. I'm aware," Lily said and continued on her way.

She opened up the main doors and saw there was a light mist falling now. She put her hood up and walked out towards the lake. It was completely still and the clouds were moving at a steady pace above. There wasn't a soul there and Lily was thankful for that. She preferred solitude when she was in these moods. Lily sat on a log under the cover of a beech tree. As she looked out at the picture before her, all of her thoughts were asleep and her mind wandered nowhere but the scene before her. The dank horizon that she was captivated by at that moment seemed to beckon her. She stood up and walked around the edge of the lake toward the horizon.

Lily found herself thinking of James and how right it felt with his arms around her. But she knew that they were in danger. If anybody found out about them, the consequences could be horrible. She tried reminding herself of that but couldn't seem to be able to be afraid. She felt safe. Especially with the rain falling around her, she couldn't muster up the feelings she knew that she ought to have. Lily wondered if James was afraid or if he doubted his decision or his feelings. It was completely possible, but Lily didn't feel like he did. It was strange and knew to her to trust someone this completely and truly, and this was what did scare her.

She looked up at the sky. The rain was coming down harder now and what about Thomas. Should she have told James about the encounter and what had he meant. The possibilities of his meaning couldn't scare her either. She felt hope that her and James would be together and that nothing would hurt them for it. However, she knew it would be silly to try and have an open relationship. They had to keep to the shadows for the time and keep their wits about them. It would be difficult, but for once Lily had total faith. She would take all the obstacles that came at her this year with complete certainty and as long as James was there with her she felt that she would make it through unscathed. All that was left for her to do at the moment was to tell James her decision. That they were going to keep calm and still and together.

--

James sat at his window and watched the rain. It was surprisingly calming. He knew that he should be ashamed and embarrassed at what had happened today, but he didn't. Everything had worked out just fine and he hoped things would keep up like that in the future. A future with Lily. He smiled thinking about that. He saw her in a yard behind a little white picket fence chasing after a little boy with black hair and green eyes just like hers. He saw himself with her, laughing and helping the boy out run her. James laughed to himself at that. That was exactly what he would do, he thought.

James sighed contently, thinking. He had only known her a short time and was already planning a future with her. It was an uncertain one, but he enjoyed imagining it. Watching her make breakfast and being with him forever. He didn't understand what it was about her that made all these thoughts come to him. Thoughts he had never thought about before.

He hoped she would like these thoughts. He wanted them to make her smile. James saw her in a white dress, beautiful. He shook himself out of his dreamlike state long enough to see a figure walking the grounds. He recognized it immediately and smiled down at her. She must like the rain. Lily seemed unaware and lost in her own thoughts. He wanted dearly to know what those were. James thought fleetingly of running down to her but decided against it. She probably wanted to be alone, and he would respect that. He hoped she didn't want to always be alone. Soon it would be raining harder and he silently prayed she wouldn't get sick. James couldn't seem to care that this was all highly inappropriate thoughts, but they were too captivating to make him care.

He hoped and prayed that she wanted to be his as much as he wanted it. She was much too special for him to just let her go. He wasn't about to let a little bit of morals get in the way of his hearts desire. He knew it would need to be in secret but he didn't mind. Anything to be with her.

--

Sorry it took so long. I had finals and other end of the year crap. But I'm off for the summer so the next shouldn't be so long. **Please give me suggestions** for the next chapter, because I sure have no idea what to write next that's why this chapter is not very plot thick. I will take all into consideration. Now to list off my **Very Important Readers****:** in order of appearance: **Prongsy Loves Lily, meh, Binka Fudge **special thanks for the nice long ones, **horseandbooklover, humanbeing, , Isashi Sanada, awww, , Jessica123, Julie AV, **and **Sing-my-heart-out.**


	8. Oh, Syrup

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 8: Oh, Syrup.

Lily sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast the next day. She had written James the letter that he asked for and gave it to a school owl earlier that morning. She knew if her friends saw him receiving a letter from Ginger, they would know something was up. They all loved Ginger and would recognize her immediately.

"Hey Lily," Chloe said as she sat next to her. "Happy Sunday." Chloe started to fill her plate as Elizabeth and Emmilia came up and joined them. Elizabeth seemed to already feel the strain of seventh year. She had a book next to her plate and seemed much more interested in that then the bacon.

"Why are you stressing out already Elizabeth?" Emmilia said somewhat mockingly.

"Why _aren't _you?" Elizabeth snapped at her.

"I don't plan to freak out until absolutely necessary," Emmilia said contently.

"You should at least study constantly like me." Elizabeth looked back at her book and bit off a piece of her bacon. The girls exchanged amused looks.

"At least she hasn't forgotten how to eat," Chloe chimed in.

"Don't worry. That'll soon go along with the little sanity she has left," Emmilia replied to her.

"Lily? You ok?" Chloe said, noticing she was zoned out.

"What?" Lily said.

"What's up with you lately?" Emmilia asked curiously. "You haven't given us your usual witty banter for the past, practically, month now. You're totally zoned out all the time, like right now you're looking off into the distance not paying an ounce of attention to me and I could just ramble on about anything at all like the weather or imminent doom of the earth or maybe even that there is a sky-scraper is falling down onto the Great Hall as we speak and we're all gonna die in two seconds and you couldn't care any fucking less could you?"

"What?" Lily said after a minute. All the girls started laughing, even Elizabeth who started listening half way through Emmilia's speech. "No, really. What did I miss? Were you talking to me?" They all just laughed harder. "Whatever I don't care. Just yuck it up won't you."

"Sorry, Lily" Chloe began finally. "It was just too good. You totally weren't even pretending to listen. She was talking about how you're different lately."

"How?" Lily said.

"Well, you hardly talk to us like yourself. You're all dreamy and off in the distance. Actually you were like that before, but not this much, or during conversation. It was usually when you'd sit alone and look out a window."

"Like in the books," Elizabeth added in. "Well, you know in books when the tormented lovers stare out a window and ruminate about the conflict they have been faced with."

"Yeah sure," Emmilia said and turned back to Lily. "Now tell us what's up."

"Nothing," Lily said and sighed while looking out the window.

"Oh no, you do not go and lose yourself in that window," Emmilia said turning Lily's head back to face them. "We all know that nothing to you is something to us. Or you just don't want to talk about it. But you will."

"Now, guys," Chloe began. "Clearly something is going on," Lily scoffed at this. "But Lily will tell us in her own due course. Right Lily?"

Lily looked at her other two friends' persecuting glares and to Chloe's sweet one. "Of course!" she said sarcastically and dramatically with an eye roll. "Because my life has to be an open book, right? Can't I just have some things to myself for once? You guys don't own me, you know."

Lily then stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall and up the stairs mumbling angrily to herself the whole way.

--

James walked down to the Great Hall, thinking hard. There was troubling news in the Daily Prophet. It seemed to be getting worse every day. These strange disappearances and mysterious deaths were becoming more and more evident in the paper. He felt like the Auror department had just given up. That's what hurt the most. That no one seemed to care that something was happening or care to know what it was. He was just contemplating a meeting with Dumbledore when he saw Lily storming past him. _She has the cutest mad face _he thought.

"Oh, Lily," he said in a singsong voice. She whipped around and saw him. She sighed.

"Oh, Ja-" she stiffened. "Professor. How are you this morning?"

James caught the hint. "Just wonderful, and yourself Miss Evans? You seem a bit distressed."

"Oh, it's nothing really. Thank you for the concern. I'll see you in class tomorrow." As she began speaking to him, James saw Thomas Orpheus walking past him by Lily and down the hallway. They made eye contact and held it as Lily spoke and only broke it when he turned around the corner. James stepped forward to whisper to Lily.

"He's always around."

"That was close. Be thankful he didn't seem suspicious," she whispered back quickly.

"But that's just it. He seemed suspicious."

"Impossible. He's just bitter with me. That's all."

"Bitter? He just plain hates me," James replied looking away. Lily laughed lightly at this then became serious again.

"I better go. The less we're seen together the better. We will be seeing a lot more of each other now anyways so it'd be best if we try not to."

"We'll be seeing more of each other? How much of you will I see exactly?" James said with a mischievous grin.

"Shut up," Lily said punching him playfully. She turned back in the direction she had been originally and walked away. Before she turned the same corner Thomas had, she looked back over her shoulder to smile at James and continue on her way. He continued towards the Great Hall.

She walked contentedly toward her dorm to work on some homework. Her tummy grumbled and she realized that she had run out on her friends before actually eating anything. Plus, she had been too anxious about James getting her letter to eat.

"Well, good morning, Lily." Lily spun around so fast she fell to the ground. "Oh, sorry," said the voice unapologetically.

"You know, Thomas, it's very rude to sneak up on people," Lily said as she began to get up off the ground and dust herself off.

"Sneaking?" he said with fake aghast as he came forward from where he had been leaning against a wall. He looked perfect. Perfect hair, perfect skin, and a perfect body were only the beginning of what was supposed to be the perfect guy. With this thought, Lily smirked, feeling glad that she had rejected him. "I never sneak. I just happened to be standing here and came across you and simply said hello. Not my fault that you're so skittish," he finished with a haughty smirk.

"Oh, you're so hilarious," Lily replied thoroughly un-amused.

"I try," Thomas continued as he walked toward her.

"Is there something you wanted?" Lily asked without any sincere interest.

Thomas began laughing. When he began to calm down he simply said, "No."

"Then I'll be on my way." Lily walked to the end of the corridor, but Thomas grabbed her arm and turned her towards you.

"I thought you might want to know though," he paused, seemingly to bask in the moment before him, "that I'm watching."

Lily gave him a peculiar look. "That's distressing," she began slowly. "Perhaps you need to find a willing lass and I'll keep my curtains closed. Ok?" She gave him a cheeky smile and tried to leave again, but was stopped.

"Cute, Lily. Not exactly what I meant though," he took a deep breath and smiled strangely at her. "I'll be watching you and our friend Professor Potter." He waited for her reaction.

Lily kept a poker face. "And what do you mean by that?"

"You two seem cozy," he said as he began to walk around her. "I wonder where your professional and personal lines mix."

"Are you trying to say something?" Lily said simply.

"Yes."

"Well don't leave me hanging, Thomas. Please, elaborate," Lily said snippily.

He faced her fully and said straight into her face, "I don't think many people would appreciate the Head Girl being intimate with a Professor."

"Excuse me, but please clarify," Lily said simply. She was in shock.

"Intimate, as in a romantic relationship," he said equally as simply, waiting to see the effects of his statement.

Lily looked away from him without losing her straight face and seemed to contemplate his words for a moment. In reality, she was trying to fully grasp the situation. Finally, her head snapped back at him sharply and her face clearly showed how livid she was.

"If you are insinuating that Potter and I are anything more than a student and teacher, you have lost bloody mind." Lily's face then took a peculiar turn and looked pitying. "I didn't know you were this desperate. Wow. Thomas Orpheus, the god of Hogwarts himself, resorting to petty lies and making up rumors to get a girl. It's truly saddening. Or perhaps you actually believe what you're telling me. You know, the whole believing what you want to believe thing. Now, that's just plain pitiful, that is. Try not to take up all your time this year working on your vengeance against me, will you?" She then patted him on the shoulder and walked past him to continue on her way, leaving a fuming Orpheus behind her.

Lily seemed completely content, but on the inside she was screaming at herself.

--

"Where the meringue is the string cheese?!"

"I don't know. You're the last to touch it."

"Aha! Yes. You love the string cheese, huh? Eat the string cheese."

"Get that out of my face, you éclair. I will pie you, I swear it."

"Don't get all biscuit on me, man. You can't stand my string cheese; get the syrup out of the kitchen!"

"Oh fuck! I drop the jar on my foot. Ow. Ah, that hurts."

"You mean…"

"Huh?"

"You said a naughty word."

"Oh, I'm sorry"

"You don't sound sorry in the least."

"Cause I'm not… Ok, ok. Oh syrup! I dropped the jar on my foot."

"Thank you."

"Boys!"

The three fully grown men turned to look guiltily up at Professor McGonagall. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter looked around at the abysmal remains of the Hogwarts kitchen. Sirius dropped the cheese he had been trying to get James to eat, James put the pie he had picked up down on the table, and Remus stood up gingerly on his sore foot. McGonagall looked around. There were all sorts of food pulled out from the cupboards, messes from where they had tried to make their own, and not an elf in sight.

"What is going on here?"

The three men just looked at each other.

McGonagall shook her head. "I thought that you boys might have done some growing up since graduation. I sure thought Potter had." She gave him a pointed look. "I will leave, and you all will clean this mess up just as well as the elves do so that it is spotless. Then you all will leave and not bother the elves any more in the future to the point where they are running to me for help because three lunatics are taking over the kitchens. Perhaps we should have a cap on how many times your friends can visit you here at the castle, Professor. That is if you all can't control yourselves. Good day, boys."

Once McGonagall had left, the three all gave a sigh of relief.

"For a second there I really thought that she was going to give me a detention," Sirius said picking up his string cheese.

"So did I. And that's really bad, since I work here now," James said leaning against a counter.

"Well, I wish she had," Remus said boldly. James and Sirius both picked up a food item and threw it at him. "Hey-"

"C'mon, Moony lets get over with it," Sirius said. He took a deep breath and flicked his wand. All the food they had taken out went back to its rightful place. "Well, I'm beat," Sirius said. "Minny always makes cleaning seem like a tireless task," he said picking out a bag of chips and swung his arms around James' and Remus' shoulders. "Now let's be off. There is some barely legal girls I wish to gawk at not to mention Prongsy's little one we _must_ meet. You know James, the way you talk about her I am going to be very disappointed if she doesn't at least have a halo and wings to match."

"First of all," James began. "You will not gawk at Lily. Second of all, Lily doesn't need a halo," he finished proudly with a smile.

"Yeah whatever dude. C'mon Moony, what's the hold up?" Sirius said.

"Oh, sorry. Except my foot is kind of fucked up," Remus said moodily.

"Excuse me, sir! We are still in the kitchens! Watch the mouth," Sirius said seriously.

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes, "This is so stupid. There aren't even any elves around."

"Nevertheless, we must respect their wishes and keep our foul tongues in check just as they told us our very first visit here in second year," Sirius replied wisely in his own special way that only Sirius could find wise. "Now let us continue on our way, Moony. You and I have a young redhead to meet," he finished with a smirk to James.

"Padfoot, mate, you really can't meet her. This is all new and I don't need you scaring her away already," James said taking Sirius by the shoulders and looking him straight in the face. "And here I thought you guys came to visit me."

"I'm not gonna scare the girl off!" he said indignantly. "Besides," he began cockily, "all the girls love me. Especially these young ones do. Also, we never said we came to see you. I see too much of you anyways. Your face is always in my mirror whining about this girl."

James gaped at him, "I've asked for advice on this about two or three times, tops."

Sirius merely rolled his eyes and gave Moony a knowing look which he returned and they turned to leave. Without James.

"Really guys, you can't meet her. At least not yet, please. Guys, listen to me!" he finally screamed in frustration. The other two men slowly turned to face him.

"Calm down, mate," Remus said easily although his eyebrows were raised in surprise. "We won't do anything, I promise," he continued giving a confirmation glance towards Sirius. "Why are you so stressed about this?"

"Because…" James started but seemed to lose what he wanted to say.

"Spit it out, Prongs!" Sirius said.

"Because I really really like her!" James yelled out like a two year old. Remus and Sirius were clearly taken aback and exchanged worried glances.

"So?" Sirius said.

"So you guys are always really scary to my girlfriends."

"Psha!" Remus said, "You know we didn't consider those tramps your girlfriends, and neither did you."

"Nevertheless, you guys care about my feelings entirely too much," James finished dramatically.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other sceptically then turned and walked out of the kitchens.

"Guys! Hey, where are you going?" James yelled after them.

--

Lily was pacing outside of Professor Potter's office. She didn't know where he could be. It was about quarter past 11 that morning and lunch didn't start until noon.

"Where the hell is this is man," she muttered to herself ad she paced. "Goddamn it."

"Can I help you, darling?" a voice said that made her jump and almost fall over. Lily saw that a very attractive dark haired man had just turned the corridor into hers, where she was pacing.

"Oh, uh… no, I'm fine. I'm just waiting for… Professor Potter," Lily replied shakily.

"Me too!" the man said enthusiastically. "He should be here soon." And he just looked at her intently. He nodded his head a little and seemed to be considering something with himself.

"I'm sorry but," Lily began, deciding to break the momentary silence and hopefully stop his strange stare "I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, yes, of course. How silly of me," he remarked with a charming crooked grin. She had successfully stopped him from his calculated scrutiny. Or whatever he was thinking. "Sirius Black." He held out a hand for her to shake.

"Lily Evans," she replied, shaking his hand. His eyebrows tweaked upward very slightly in surprise, but enough that she caught it along with a quick flash of another something in his eyes. She thought maybe amusement or something along those lines.

"Well," he started as he put his hands in his pockets and a grin stretched across his face. "I am so pleased to meet to." He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, Lily noted suspiciously.

"And you as well…" She didn't know if she should call him sir or not. He looked the same age as James and she only called him sir because he was her teacher, and mostly it was for show.

"How about you and me go for a walk around the grounds. It's been a while since I've been back and I could also do for some fresh air. What do you say?" he finished with a mischievous grin.

"I really have to talk to Professor Potter. I'm sorry. May I ask why you're here?" She really should have asked that first. Dumbledore had asked all the prefects to be particularly more aware of security.

"Oh, yes. I'm just visiting a friend. I have permission from Dumbledore, if you feel like we need to go check with him why I'm here," Black offered graciously. He decided to listen to James for once and not scare this girl. He was going to put all that good-grooming his parents had tried to instil in him to some good use, finally.

"Well, enjoy your walk," Lily said and looked away calmly. This was clearly a dismissal, but Sirius wouldn't have any of that.

"I'm sure we will," he said and took her elbow and steered her towards the opposite end of the hall than he had come in from.

Lily gawked at him slightly and threw her head over her shoulder to check in front of James' office. He had to be warned about Orpheus. And who did this guy think he was? Sirius Black, that's who. The name was terribly familiar now that she took the moment to notice that that was his name. She thought about how she was getting dragged off while James could be walking around gaily as though he hadn't a care in the world. This Black fellow had come to see James she realized. _Me too! He should be here soon… I'm just visiting a friend. I have permission from Dumbledore…_ Then it hit her. Sirius Black. James' best friend. The very same Sirius Black who caused all that trouble not too long ago when he was a student that students still talk about all the time, and that James mentioned in the few danger-free conversations they had had.

Had James told his friend about them? Apparently, they were closer than brothers as she had heard, though she didn't know much about the famed _Marauders._ Lily didn't care to think about reckless rule-breakers, unless she was doling out punishments their way. He was not acting like he knew anything. But if James had told him not to say anything to her, she could have no way to know. If he did know, he was doing marvellously at hiding it. Lily found it all quite unfair she hadn't told her friends about her relationship. Well, Elizabeth kind of had an idea that Lily would initiate something, but she had yet to give her friend any confirmation on the subject. And Elizabeth had enough tact not to ask.

"It's very cold out," Sirius remarked after they had gotten outside, successfully pulling her from her thoughts.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Lily replied uninterested.

"Would you like my jacket or something? You look very cold." Sirius knew that if James found out he had let his girlfriend get frost bite, he wasn't leaving Hogwarts unscathed.

"I'm fine," Lily said, a bit surprised at the chivalrous gesture. Not the Sirius Black she had heard about in those stories, but perhaps that's what it was. Just stories. She continued to hug herself and rub her arms for heat.

Sirius rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated grunt at her stubbornness. _James sure can pick them_ he thought as he took of his muggle jacket and slung it over her shoulders.

Lily let out an exasperated huff of breath at his complete disregard of what she had said. "You're terrible," she stated simply.

Sirius stopped, absolutely baffled. "Why? Because of my blatant expression of chivalry? You should be thankful. You'll rarely get it these days."

"I don't need your chivalry. I need your answers," she said without thinking and she too stopped, then turned around to face him. Her face was painted in guilt.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow at her. "What would you like me to answer?" he asked, waiting to watch her squirm.

Lily froze and thought for a moment. Her eyes never leaving his. _Should I just tell him? There's a good chance he already knows, so why ask? Just wait to ask James. _Lily took a deep breath and said calmly, "Nothing. Sorry." She turned and continued walking in the direction that they were.

"Oh no, no, no. You get back here girly!" he shot back at her and jogged after her. It was Lily's turn to cock an eyebrow at him.

"Girly?" she said as she came to a stop.

"Yes, I did indeed say that." Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes at this. "You _do_ want to know something. So just say it."

Lily looked up at him. He had a mocking glint in his eye. "I'm guessing you already know what I want to ask. So I think you can just answer," Lily said crossing her arms over her chest.

Sirius smirked at her a moment and said, "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes. I know." Lily continued to stare at him with a cool face, even though on the inside she began to freak out. She was also glad that she was learning to control the emotions on her face.

"Again, yes?" Lily said coolly.

Sirius sighed and continued, "Yes, I know about you and James. That you two are lovers now that is what I know."

"Oh," was all Lily said.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Sirius said mockingly again with a face of fake concern.

"Just peachy," Lily said bitterly and turned and stormed off to the castle.

"Oi! Where you going?"

"To tear off James Potter's mouth. If he can't control it, he does not deserve it!"

--

Now you can**GO REVIEW**, thank you. And a shout out to last chapters reviewers like I always do: **horseandbooklover, Magical, Julie AV, Jessica123, LilyEvans000, humanbeing, **and finally **sara **(my name's Sara too!).


	9. Nothing's happened

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 9: Nothing's happened

James was reading Lily's letter as he walked out of McGonagall's office. The three of them had been accosted by her on their way to his office. Apparently, she had some academic concerns about a particular 5th year Gryffindor that she needed to discuss with him. Sirius went ahead to ensure that Minny didn't get another opportunity to give him a detention and Remus stayed to catch up with on matters of the Order of the Phoenix. Ginger came to him while he was in there. He already knew that they would be together from how she had reacted earlier, but it was just nice to have it in writing. And what lovely writing it was.

_Dear James,_

_I've thought about your proposition and with much consideration have decided to accept. If we are to continue this correspondence, then certain precautions have to be taken as I'm sure you're aware of. I believe that a limited amount of time outside of class seen together would be good as well as being professional with each other on all occasions. Should we decide to spend time outside of class together, we will have to predetermine a time and location for such a rendezvous that will not be interrupted by any who are unaware of the situation and would initiate consequences for our affiliation. I look forward to our time together._

_Lovingly Yours, _

_Illegal Lover_

James laughed hard at the codename she had given herself and at her formal way of writing. She was obviously afraid of someone intercepting the letter.

"What are you laughing at?" Moony said. James just passed him the note. "Illegal Lover," he said once finished with his friend's letter. "What an accurate description."

"You sound put out," James mentioned.

"I'm not really. I was just thinking lately," Remus said without elaborating.

"Please don't leave me hanging like this, mate."

Remus sighed, "Well, I thought about it a lot and this decision did not come lightly to me at all, please be aware of that. But, in my opinion, I believe that this is poor judgement on your part and that you should rethink this arrangement."

James stopped walking. "You want me to break it off."

"Yes," Remus said when he turned to face his friend. "I understand you really like her and everything, but it's too risky. I suggest a close friendship instead of a romance. I mean, she's in her last year, yes? So why not take the time to see if these feeling are serious or just an infatuation. Because if they are indeed just that, then you will be sparing this girl the heartache."

"Or," James rebutted, "we can keep going what we have, or more accurately, what hasn't even begun yet, and see what happens. I'm not an idiot Remus," he said more seriously, "I know how this can end. Lily is very intelligent and she wouldn't have accepted if she didn't also accept the possible consequences that could arise. We both know what we're doing and if it puts you at easeI'll talk to her more about whether it's the right decision or not. Happy?" And James began to walk off again a bit more agitated than before. He thought his friend would understand what this was. That he wasn't after a bit of tail, it was more than that.

"James…" his friend began warningly.

"Moony, listen," James stood there for a while trying to think how to put this. Finally he said, "I thought that you would understand how I feel more than anyone. You know better than anybody that today could be the end and that I could regret not living that way. Can't you just let me live?"

Remus took a moment to think about his words. He was right after all. "If you must," he said with his face breaking into a grin and tucking the letter into James' robe pocket. "Now let's go, drama queen." And they continued towards James' office.

--

"Here's an idea. Calm the fuck down!!"

"Or you can just stop tailing me!"

Sirius was running after Lily in hopes of saving his best friend's life. Because if that hex that missed him and hit that unsuspecting 4th year was any indication of her magical prowess, then James was in trouble.

_Wait. I have magic too! _Sirius thought and began to put it to good use, "_Immobilus._"

Lily froze mid-run.

"Ha!" Sirius said triumphantly. "Not so high and mighty now, eh?" he said giving himself a mental pat on the back for subduing the beast. "Now, you need to calm down. He told us so I'm sure he thought it would be fine for you to tell yours. Don't you think? Well?" He then realized that she couldn't talk since he had immobilized her and lifted the spell.

"How dare you! You little twit, I ought to hex you into oblivion this moment!! _Move aside!_" Lily yelled and stormed past him. Sirius decided to let her go and settled for walking behind her. He kept up easily since he had much longer legs than her.

She took one more turn around the corner into the corridor that held James' office. Sirius ran in front of her and blocked the door using his whole body as a barricade. "Now, listen for a moment. Calm down. Don't flip out on the poor boy-"

"Shut the hell up!" Lily yelled calmly. "No one asked your opinion." And she continued to throw him aside using her wand.

Lily walked into the office and found James laughing and chatting with another man who she assumed, given recent events as evidence, was Remus Lupin.

Lily paused a moment to look at James. "I have to talk to you, James. Right now," Lily said, slowly becoming frantic.

James' jubilant expression fell as he saw Lily's face. A mix of fear, anger, and sorrow was seen. Then he saw Sirius in the doorway.

"Aw, shit," James said, looking at his best friend. "What the hell, Padfoot!"

"Oi! C'mon now, Jamesy! What did you expect from me?" Sirius retorted.

"That you would respect my wishes! I mean, jeez man. What if you-"

"James," Lily said calmly putting her hand on his shoulder. "I have to talk to you." Again there was something about her face that made him stop and look at her. She was worried about something, but hiding it well, so he couldn't gauge just how worried he should be just yet.

"Of course," he replied, moving her gently to sit in a chair while he sat upon the desk in front of her. Remus was leaning in from the chair next to her and Sirius leaned against the back of his. Lily looked up at them expectantly and then finally up to James.

"In private," Lily said through pursed lips.

"We don't need to hide anything from them Lily. Don't worry," James replied good-naturedly.

"Then I guess I'll start with most trivial to least. You told them?!"

"Well, of course. I can't ask for their advice without telling them what it's for," he said matter-of-factly.

"Advice?"

"Yes, advice. You don't think I came up with all those suave lines on my own, did you?" he said with a chuckle.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean all that stuttering?" Remus and Sirius burst out in laughter.

"Shut up!" James snapped at them. You could see a blush raising in his cheeks. Lily started laughing at him too. "Moving on! Was there something _less _trivial, Lily?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Lily's smile soon died as she looked up at him. suddenly, she really didn't want to tell him about her little encounter with Thomas. Maybe she could just deal with it herself. No, he had to be warned and in the loop too. "We have… a little complication."

James looked puzzled at her. "Complication?"

"Yes." She didn't continue. James gave her a look that said _Well, c'mon. What the fuck is it? _"Well… You were right."

"About?" James was slowly getting more and more impatient.

Lily looked down at the floor and whispered, "Thomas."

James' face instantly hardened. "Oh." He didn't say any more. She knew she was suppose to continue.

Lily exhaled and began, "After our little encounter, he began talking to me. Basically, he said he was suspicious of our relationship. I'm sorry, I don't know how. He's just a suspicious person I suppose."

"Don't worry about him. We'll be careful," James said with a smile.

"No, James, we won't," Lily continued looking downcast.

"What do you mean?"

Lily smiled sadly and put a hand to his cheek. "What were we thinking, James? We were foolish, don't you think?"

"I don't understand."

"This was crazy. To believe that this was a practical solution when it's anything but, was truly foolish. We can't. There will always be this sense of fear and paranoia. It's not healthy."

"Lily, explain," James said, grasping the arms of her chair and looking her square in the face. She still refused to look him in the eye.

"This can't happen. We can't be caught. The only sure way to avoid it, is to end it."

"How can we end it?! Nothing has even happened. We've been official for the whole of two hours! This is ridiculous," James said, becoming frantic. He had only just been assured that they could be together. Was she really trying to get away from him already?

"It's silly, Professor!" Lily said finally looking him in the eye. "This is all just… wrong, incorrect. This isn't how this happens. I'm sorry. We both know the consequences."

The "Professor" had killed him. She was trying to remind him of the problems they were facing, but he didn't care. She could "Professor" him all she liked, but it wouldn't change anything.

"Lily," he began, cupping her face in his hands. "You don't want to end what we have. I know you don't."

Lily looked into his warm, forgiving eyes for a long moment. She then, pushed his hands away and stood up. Looking away from him she said simply, "What I want and what I need are different and with these circumstances, the latter is _irrelevant_."

Lily then moved to leave but was caught around the waist by a strong arm when she was right near the door. "But I need you," James whispered in her ear. He kissed right below her earlobe and down her neck until he found a preferable spot between her neck and collarbone that Lily enjoyed greatly. She was glad he couldn't see her eyes were shut.

Lily felt the familiar fire rush through her veins and goose bumps flutter across her skin when his lips hit her skin. As James lathered one particularly sensitive spot, she felt his arm tighten around her and she grasped his hand with hers. Finally, Lily willed herself to turn her head sharply away from his, successfully detaching his lips from her neck. "Please. Don't make this more difficult than it is."

She pulled his hand from her body and walked out.

--

James looked at the door in disbelief for quite some time. "James, mate," he heard from behind him. he remembered his best friends' presence and suddenly felt embarrassed. They had just witnessed him get dumped and him half-way beg Lily to stay. It amazed him how everyone disappeared when he was around Lily. That thought hurt the most.

"Don't say anything, guys," he responded over his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he added. Then they were both on either side of him with a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be, man. She should be apolog-"

"Don't please, Moony. I'm fine," but James knew they saw straight through him. His mother once told him his eyes betrayed his mind.

"C'mon then," Sirius started. He knew when his friend did and didn't need to talk about something, and right now he knew what Prongs needed. "I think a drink is in order."

"Padfoot," Remus started warningly.

"No, actually. Sounds pretty good right about now," James said trying to fake a smile, and failing.

--

It was all for the best. Lily knew that. She had decided what she would do when she saw his face. He didn't deserve that. He was too good to be in trouble for her. She wasn't worth it.

James was an amazing teacher. He really knew his stuff and the students listened to him. He easily became everyone's favourite teacher this year. He didn't deserve to be fired over her. She hoped he wouldn't find any other poor girl to fall in love with him. Only because no other girl was worth him loosing his job over. That reason only.

But he wouldn't find any one else. These girls were so immature and googly eyed. That's why he had been attracted to her, she assured herself. Had, though. He would soon get over her, she just hoped she could do the same.

It was time to tell the girls, too. There was no way she could shake them off when she knew she was going to be acting all put-out. They would never have that. She may have been able to get away with being spacey, but depressed was not going to fly. Damn. This year was too much for her already.

**Sorry it's a bit shorter than others, but to continue plot-wise I need an answer. ****Question Time: ****Would you like Snape to be James' age or Lily's? This is very important. I need this direction otherwise I won't write another chapter. I'm not joking. So review, like these lovely people: **Julie AV, stacygirl, Jeca123, sara, greeneyeddancer21, LoveSpencerCarlin, wishfulthinking123, sweety2010, humanbeing, MissSaraJean-Jellybean47 **(finally)**, Jenny129, Your yellow flower, shroomy-eyes, rabidwolverine101


	10. Foolish

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 10: Foolish

"Ahhh," James hissed as he tried to lift his head off of… what the hell is that? Ah, yes. Moony's back. He looked around and saw that the three of them were sprawled across the ground. He tried to remember what happened last night.

_"Lily," he began, cupping her face in his hands. "You don't want to end what we have. I know you don't." "Please. Don't make this more difficult than it is."_

James cringed at the thought. But after that?

_"You know," James slurred, pointing his finger at Moony and Sirius with his brows furrowed. "Screw her! I am awesome. Who does she think she is? I am James frigginin Potter," he said obviously amazed by the fact. "Girls SWOON at my name. And she's just gonna leave me? Like I'm some… some friggin- thing?!"_

_"Aww, mate," Padfoot started, equally, if not more, slurred. He put a sympathetic hand on his mate's shoulder. "I know what you mean. She doesn't deserve you. What a bitch. You know what we should do?!" he said suddenly excited. "We need to start a band! Yes!"_

_"Pad-man," Moony said calmly from his slumped position. "That has got to be… your most brilliant idea yet!" he said, his eyes lighting up._

_"Yes yes yes! Aww this is gonna be awesome," James said frantically. "I know, I know exactly what we'll do! Ok ok. So I'll be guitar or something, Moony's vocals, you have the prettiest voice man-_

James decided to end remembering there. He really hoped the boys didn't have there heart set on a band.

He tried getting up by pushing off of Moony who in turn, got knocked into Sirius who emitted a grunt. James instantly regretted standing. His head was so dizzy. He looked over at the clock. He had to be in class in about 20 minutes and was definitely missing breakfast, but he wasn't about to hurry. The sorrow from last night was coming back to him and the physical pain from his hangover was killing him.

James slugged over to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He had already stepped his foot in when his head fell backwards and he groaned loudly. He was still fully clothed. He took off his wet sock and the other one, the rest of his clothes and hopped in the shower. The hot water on his skin felt like such a relief. He wondered what would happen if he just didn't show up to class. What was it? Monday, damn. He had seventh years first. He knew Lily would be completely professional. That's just who she was.

James eventually got out. He had five more minutes to get to class. He decided to get some breakfast first; his stomach was feeling a bit queasy. James knew he was being silly and completely irresponsible by purposefully being late. _What'll she do when I'm late?_

James got dressed quickly and was so thankfully his mates were still passed out. They could see themselves out just fine. When he got down to the kitchens, he saw the leftovers from the morning. They probably only just cleared it away. James plopped down on a seat and started to eating buttered toast and bacon, depressed. He was starting to feel better, physically, but that only left room for the emotional pain to resurface. After finishing some food, James sat for a moment and looked at his last tiny, little piece of bacon. It was a lovely shade of red.

_This is pathetic. _He thought to himself. _Fucking bacon? That's what's gonna make me spiral downward into depression?_ James shoved the plate away from him and stormed out of the kitchen.

--

"I love you baby! And if it's quite alright, I need you baby! To warm the lonely ni- Ah!"

"I swear to _God_, Emmilia! You keep singing and I'm gonna tear your vocal chords from your body with my bare hands and feed them to Ginger!" Lily was not in the mood to wake up to her friend's morning after post-orgasmic high.

"I can't help it! I need to wake you up and I am in _such_ a good mood," Emmilia said smiling brightly.

"Why are you here?! This is only _my_ room."

"Because you usually meet us at the common room, but didn't."

"I didn't sleep very well, and that reminds me… I have to tell you all something. It's weird and complicated and I don't need any feedback. And I'll tell you all at lunch." With that, Lily swept herself off to the bathroom to get herself ready for the day and shut the door.

"What?!"

--

Once Lily had put on all her clothes, she looked in front of her full-length mirror and just kind of looked at herself. She looked herself up and down scrutinizing herself. There was no reason to. It was a uniform, there was nothing she ever did with her hair, and her make-up was always simple, if even any at all. There was something bad about it today though. There was something wrong with all of it, and she couldn't put her finger on it. She had to assure herself that everything was fine. Nothing was different. Nothing had changed.

"Done admiring yourself?" Elizabeth said from the doorway. Lily looked around and saw that they were alone. She sighed and turned away from her and the unsavoury reflection, sitting down on the bed. "Hey, what's wrong?" Elizabeth said concerned.

Lily looked up at her friend. She didn't know what to say. She hoped that Elizabeth could just look in her eyes and _know_. And she did.

"Aw, Lily," Elizabeth said and wrapped her in a hug. Lily had to will herself not to cry. After all, she didn't have a reason too.

"It's ok, really, it is. I'm going to tell you all everything tonight, ok?"

Elizabeth smiled at her, "Yeah. C'mon now. Let's get this over with."

They went to breakfast which was unusually quiet. The girls knew Lily would tell them. She was half surprised not to see James at breakfast, but then again, half of her wasn't. "I think it's time we get going, don't you?" Chloe said quiet and soothingly.

Lily looked up at her and smiled a bit, "Yeah. Let's go."

The classroom wasn't different. All the students were loud and gossiping. Lily sat at her seat. She had been grateful that she got the front and center seat, at the beginning of the year. Now, she really wished she could switch with somebody. She sat there for a while waiting for class to begin.

_Just like any other class. Just don't… look at him too much…or at all. Perfect._

**Of course she's gonna look at him. He's beautiful.**

_Oh my goodness! Who are you?_

**Lily… I am your father.**

_Cute._

**I thought so. But seriously, I'm the part of you, you wish you were.**

_I'm everything I want to be, thank you very much._

**You know what, you little butt? I'm taking over finally. Goodbye italics! Don't let the door hit you on the way out of my mind! I'm sick and tired of NOT getting what I deserve. Fuck you responsible Lily!**

_Wait, no! You need me!_

**I'll call you when I do. Now this is what you'll do, Lily. When James comes in, don't ignore him. That'd be silly. You are awesome and have done nothing wrong. Cool, calm and collected.**

That's what she thought over and over again. Cool, calm and collected. She waited and waited. Finally, she chanced a look around and everyone was still chatting happily. She looked at the clock. Class started almost 15 minutes ago.

"Sor, I'm late." Lily turned around at the sound and the students settled down. James looked like hell. And she wasn't the only one to think so. All the students were muttering to each other.

"Is he drunk?"

"Someone had a long night."

"Oh, he got pissed!"

James sat at his desk and pulled out his book, "Ok class, where were we? Yes! Chapter 6, please. Defensive maneuvers. Very important… uh, who wants to tell us why?" James was obviously tired and weary. He didn't look up from his book the whole time he spoke and students were still muttering.

His eyes skimmed over the class quickly careful to avoid Lily, who also was looking at her desk without her hand raised. James settled on one of the two who had raised there hand. It was some Hufflepuff.

"It's important to be able to know to defend yourself in a duel."

James leaned back and looked out the window. He was right, but there was a much better answer and he knew just who knew it. "Good, good," James said. "Does anybody have anything to add?" This time he looked at Lily. Directly at Lily. "Really?" he continued and started to stand up. "No one has anything more to add. There's a much better answer. Evans? C'mon! I know you know," he said with a smirk and leaning over his desk.

Lily looked up at him. **Has he lost his damn mind?!** Lily looked up at him; her chin raised high and said confidently, "Because, it would be foolish to think that you could win a duel by throwing out spells when your opponent is doing the same. You have to have a good defence as well as offence. It's common sense."

The whole class was silent for a moment waiting for the Professor's response. After a moment of staring into one another's eyes, James looked down at the floor and said quietly, "Yes. Foolish. Miss Evans is perfectly correct," he continued out to the whole class. "Balance is key for any and everything. How about we do this. You all will choose offensive maneuvers we've discussed, or possibly not, I don't care too much, and pair it up with a sufficient defensive maneuver. Homework will be to write a compare and contrast essay about two defensive manuevers' successfulness at overpowering one offensive maneuver. One will, of course, be better suited than the other. And it'll be graded on how correct you are in your assessment. How's that?"

All the students started talking to one another, some actually about the assignment. Lily was immediately at Elizabeth's side and soon Chloe was there. Emmilia was a bit pre-occupied with her boyfriend across the room.

"Alright, let's get to work," Lily said.

"Lily," Elizabeth said putting a hand on her friend's arm.

"Not now, Elizabeth. Please, I'll explain everything later. I promise." Lily then continued to begin her work while her friends followed her lead they also exchanged worried glances.

James spent the rest of class trying to grade some papers he hadn't gotten to yet. This was, naturally, not working out at all. His eyes with drift, of their own accord, up towards the back of the class where he saw Lily full out run to. She looked peaceful doing the work. It was a ridiculously easy assignment, particularly for Lily, for a NEWT class, but they sure didn't mind. She was completely at ease and professional. So why couldn't he be. He knew he was acting like a child when he had insisted on her answer. James promised himself that he would be more mature about the situation.

The bell rang and James exhaled deeply and put his head down on the desk. His relief ended when he heard, "Um… Professor?" He looked up to see Lily's emerald orbs looking down at him. "I think we should talk about this." He looked around and saw the whole class was gone.

"Oh, yeah?" James shot back snippily. _No, _he thought, _mature._ "I mean, yeah we probably should," he said sheepishly, getting up to stand in front of her. "Uh… here?"

"Sure." Lily then pulled up a chair next to his desk and he sat down, turning his chair to face her. He was finding it increasingly harder to breath affectively. "So… uh," Lily thought for a moment to figure out what exactly she wanted to talk about. "We can't make this awkward. What happened, happened. And it's done; now we have to go back to how things were before. Ok?" she said gently but finally.

"You mean me hopelessly falling for you and staring at you constantly, wondering when, if ever, I'll have the courage to tell you my feelings?"

"No. I mean teacher and student. Without there being any feelings, or knowledge any feelings at least. Why is that so impossible?" Lily was slowly becoming angry.

"Because I care too much about you, Lily. I've fallen too hard and I can't come back from it. I can tell you don't feel the same way, but that's ok. I know you feel something towards me and I also know you don't want to. I understand Lily, I really do. I'm foolish and naïve I suppose. I should have grown out of that a long time ago."

"James- uh. Professor. I'm sorry. I should never have allowed this to go so far. We're over it now though, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I'm glad we can handle this like mature adults." Lily took a deep breath and stood up. She held out her hand to him and he took it.

It was hard for James to resist taking her hand to his lips and pull her into him, but he did it. She then smiled lightly at him and turned, leaving him alone in the empty classroom. That smile could warm anyone's soul, particularly his, but now it only made his heart tug painfully in search of her. But he knew she was far away now. Farther to him than when he first met her.

**It'll work out, mate. Don't worry. **

He's right. Everything will be ok in the end.

James, however, didn't want to wait for the end. But he had to be patient, otherwise he would lose her completely. _I understand you really like her and everything, but it's too risky. I suggest a close friendship instead of a romance. _Remus' words suddenly rung clear in his mind. And James felt hopeful.

--

"Lily? Are you going to tell us or what? I'm getting terribly impatient!" It was lunch and Emmilia decided to break the silence, finally.

Lily rolled her eyes. This is one of the things she loved about Emmilia. When the others were to concerned for your feelings to bring something up, she would just blurt it out, because when she wants to know something, she will.

"Alright," Lily said dropping her fork. She took a deep breath and began, "It involves Professor Potter, and it started with my detention with him. the second one…" She spun out her tale without stopping at her friends' gasps, blushes, and in some cases, suggestive eyebrow movements. Lily ended with her conversation with him today after class and finally looked her friends in the eyes.

Elizabeth was, of course, unreadable. Emmilia looked sympathetic and maybe… disappointed? Chloe wasn't even looking at her. She seemed to be trying to figure something out. Lily decided to continue her lunch while her friends thought about everything.

"I'm proud of you, Lily," Chloe finally said, looking her straight in the eye.

Lily chuckled a bit, "I thought _you_ might be."

"It can't have been easy to say goodbye to him." Lily looked up at her in surprise. She thought Chloe would be glad that she chose responsibility over a guy, but that didn't seem to be the case. Chloe put her arm on Lily's shoulder and continued, "You really care about him. I can hear it in your voice and the look in your eyes. You're falling in love with him. Not like these other girls and their petty crushes. But I still stand by my opinion, and believe this is for the best. For the time being." She finished with her signature maternal smile. Lily broke down on her friend's open shoulder.

She had been acting like the whole thing was no big deal. It was something that would be forgotten, she believed. But seeing that the look on her face must have told Chloe to pull out her mothering skills for her friend proved to her that she indeed needed that comfort. Because it hurt. It hurt to turn you back on what you love and need, more than you thought was possible or right. Lily hurt inside.

--

"I'm so glad you're willing to do this on the last notice. I really do appreciate it and Professor Slughorn, too."

"Absolutely, Professor. I'm glad I could help. How long am I needed again, sir?"

"He said two weeks tops. But being Slughorn, we know that means _at least _two weeks. Is that all right?"

"Absolutely, sir."

"I'm blessed that your employer was willing to let you off for the time."

"Well, a word from Albus Dumbledore and he saw it rather difficult to say no, sir."

"Haha! You're flattering me, boy. Well, Professor now, for the time."

"Strange to think that I'll be a Professor now."

"You'll do wonderfully. I trust you remember where the class is. He left the lesson plans 'in view' he said and that it should keep you on the right track to get you going. You remember the curriculum, I'm sure also."

"I'll manage, Professor. Thank you."

"It's wonderful to have you back, Severus."

"Wonderful to be back, sir."

--

"Lily. Now what I'm wondering is how could you possibly give a damn what that prick, Orpheus said. Sure he was right, but it was a shot in the dark."

"Emmilia," Elizabeth said warningly.

"Elizabeth," Emmilia copied her tone. "Can you stop speaking 'warningly'. Getting kind of annoying."

"You _are_ annoying. Just shut up."

"Why don't you say that to my face?"

"I just did. Weren't you there? Remember? It was after lunch. We were walking to class. Ring any bells?"

Emmilia stared at her for a while, seriously. "You suck my big toes with icing on them. _Vanilla_ icing."

Chloe and Lily started laughing hysterically, while Elizabeth looked at Emmilia, terrified.

"Point made," and Emmilia continued on her merry way with a smile, leaving her friends behind her in their disturbed states.

**A/N: Look! Look how fast I updated! Woo! Go me! Here are the results of the VOTE. **James' age: 13 Lily's age: 3.** I'm glad it wasn't close. That would have been hard. **

**My lovely reviewers, I dubbed the VIR list: **Tehehe, Julie AV, llc22, Jeca123, ReadingISBreathing, hpdreamer500 **(once again, thank you for the entertainment)**, emereilla, Your yellow flower, E.B., Lili Evans dotcom, Chelsea2013, Mmbug98841, 99deatheaters, nightwing27, me **(I couldn't count your vote! I don't know what you said. Wouldn't make a difference anyways though)**, wishfulthinking123, natalia_black, Marianna Giniagio, Jenny129 **(of course I mention you!)**, sara, Sing-my-heart-out, Swat56. **Holy crap I'm getting a lot of reviewers… sweet!**


	11. Snippety

**Um… Professor?**

Chapter 11: Snippety

(Co-Written by The-Ruby-Butterfly)

Severus Snape sat at his, well Slughorn's, desk waiting for his last class of the day. He had taught three classes today. First were the second years. Inattentive dimwits. Then fifth years, who he was shocked and disgusted to find as incompetent as the class before but just as fearful. Unfortunately, the sixth years had a bit more backbone and he was forced to strike the fear of God in them. Next were his seventh years. Most likely they would be most troublesome of all, with raging senioritis and equally raging hormones. Ugh. He wasn't like this when he was in school he thought. Were all the students this dumb then, too? Well, he could think of one in particular that was _worse, _who also couldn't seem to help staying at Hogwarts.

He couldn't wait to see him again.

Just then the kids started to pile in and look up at him with surprise. Once the bell rang, he stood up in the front of the class and began first, with an explanation of his presence. "As you can see, Professor Slughorn is not here. He will not be here for the remainder of two weeks for personal matters. Don't ask me what they are, they are referred to as personal for a reason. Now as I've been informed, you've all been-" he was interrupted by the door being quickly opened and then slammed shut. Snape saw that a lovely young lady, who was vaguely familiar, was now shuffling towards the remaining empty seat which was in the third row. She then proceeded to put her head looking downward as if to try to be inconspicuous. "Can I help you?" Snape drawled.

"No, no. Please continue," she said.

"How about I start with your detention? Tonight at seven. Here."

"Professor! Really? Detention for a tardy? Don't you think that's a bit rash," Lily said.

"No, I don't," Snape replied slowly, in a way that left Lily speechless. Lily wanted to yell back at him, but just didn't. It was completely within his powers as professor to give her a detention for being late. But she still wanted to explain why she was late. It wasn't her fault that stupid second year had no friends to help him to the hospital wing. She was simply going about her Head duty to lead and protect the student body. And that included helping stupid, hexed second years.

Something else was troubling her though. This man was painfully familiar. He looked about the same age as Professor Potter. Professor Potter was painfully handsome. _No! Bad Lily._

She must have recognized him from school then, when he was a student. _What was this guy's name? Snip? Crap, what were those fourth years muttering at lunch? It was something along those lines. Why was this guy so snippety? Definitely the name._

"Miss Evans, I am speaking to you!" Lily's head shot up and saw Snip was glaring at her.

"I'm sorry, professor. Would you please repeat that?" she replied hopefully.

"No, I won't. It's a simple yes or no question. If you get it wrong that'll be 20 points from Gryffindor and another detention for proving you were not paying attention in my class."

**What a douche! **

_Hey now-_

**Hey. Haven't I taken care of you?**

"No." Snip's face showed clear disappointment when she said this.

"Correct," Lily said strongly.

"Wow. It really works," Elizabeth said to herself.

Snip then continued with his lecture. Something occurred to Lily. How did he know her name? Probably saw it as the only one not here on the roster. But she couldn't help but shake the feeling she should know him from somewhere else. He should have been easily recognizable with his greasy, long black hair, pallid skin, and hooked nose.

"Are you still angry with him?" Chloe suddenly asked. Lily looked at her confusedly.

"Who?"

"Snape. Are you still holding a grudge?"

The name snapped in Lily's memory. Severus Snape her childhood friend and almost mentor. She looked up to him when she was a little girl and had told her about being a witch. He would come back from Hogwarts in the summer and tell her about all the wonderful things at Hogwarts. All the magical things she would learn. She remembered being afraid that he was joshing her or that Hogwarts wouldn't want her. When she did get there, she was a little first year Gryffindor trying to follow around this sixth year Slytherin. In the beginning of that year he had ignored her as best he could. When finally he realized she wouldn't have any of that, he yelled at her, calling her all sorts of names she didn't understand and sent her sobbing to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. That was how she met Chloe. She came in and was a shoulder for her to cry on. Lily vowed never to forgive him. And if Lily was good at anything, it was keeping a grudge. She could still see the looks on the other Slytherins' faces. All of a sudden class was over and people were leaving. Lily had missed it because she was so caught up in her own anger. She was trying to rush out the door when she was called back by Snip- I mean Snape.

"Yes, professor," she said reluctantly. She just wanted to get out of there and back to her dorm and chill.

"I expect you here at seven," he said calmly.

"Yes, Professor."

He turned back to his work on his desk, but Lily remembered something. He probably wouldn't care or be able to help her, but she decided to ask anyways, however reluctantly. "Excuse me, Professor. Um, before Slughorn had left, he assigned an extra credit project. Actually, it was at the beginning of the year, but I have it now. Do you think you could get it to him or should I wait until he's back?"

"Depends. What was the project?" Snape asked, thoroughly interested.

"To create an original potion that could be useful to the war effort. We had the whole year to do it, and points starting at 50 would be awarded based on how effective it is."

Snape smirked slightly. "And what, may I ask, did you do?"

"Well, the potion I made is a hearing heightener. So that fighters can go into battle and be able to hear enemies approaching. But also, the drinker will have control over the potion. They can select from how far they want to hear from, just like selective hearing and it lasts for six hours."

Snape looked at her quizzically. It sounded like a fantastic potion… _if it worked. _

"And is it effective?" he asked.

"Well, it is whenever I've tested it on myself," Lily said, getting increasingly nervous. She couldn't tell if he was impressed or condescending.

"Do you make your own potions often?" he asked coolly.

"Sometimes. Nothing serious. Just little things."

Snape contemplated for a moment. "I have no means to contact Professor Slughorn. You can present your potion to him when he returns. However, bring it tonight along with your notes and everything. I'm sure I can help with it. There must be somewhere to improve it, yes?"

"Oh!" Lily was rather surprised by this. She almost wanted to decline, but first if all, he was her professor, and second, this would mean her detention was less detention and more homework, which she really liked. "Sure. Absolutely. Good-bye professor." And she left.

When she got to the door though, her way was blocked by Professor Potter.

"Oh! Professor Potter! What are you doing here?" Lily exclaimed. James's lip curled into smirk at Snape then turned back to Lily.

"Just visiting an old school chum," he replied, Lily suspected, sarcastically.

"You two went to school together? Well, that makes sense I guess. You are clearly about the same age."

"Potter. Pleasure to see you again," Snape said while standing. Now, Lily knew that _that _was sarcastic. In fact, it was meant to be that way.

Potter strolled towards his desk with his hands behind his back and that smirk on his lips. Snape held his head high and his eyes were cold. His hands rested on the desk but his knuckles were white. The two seemed to be appraising the other. James rather condescendingly and Snape solemnly.

Lily took all of this in as it happened. She could feel that something was going to happen. Something bad, she concluded. No one was talking and it was clear to her by now that these two hadn't exactly been "chums". Abruptly, James spoke.

"Snivellus."

Lily went wide eyed. _What did he just say?_ Snape just stood there, clearly unsurprised, and expression unmoving.

"So," James continued. "You've decided to slither back into your hole here in Hogwarts, eh? Guess you didn't realize I was teaching here now otherwise you surely would have ran scared."

_Not wise._

"You seem to be under the delusion that I'm afraid of you Pothead. However, you are once again in the wrong," Snape crawled back. James' nose flared at the term 'Pothead'. "I have no reason to fear you since you are merely a boy with a bit of undisciplined talent and too much ego than deserved, as it is your only positive quality."

_James! Don't talk!_

"It's more than you can say for yourself, seeing as your only talent was seeking out dark magic to impress yourself and any other fool deluded enough to think your 'talents' deserved any merit. Those fools often being your fellow spineless Slytherfreaks." The two continued speaking, practically, conversationally. Although, James seemed to be getting a bit more venomous.

_Poor move, James._

I agree. Just ghastly move on your part.

"Now now, Potter. Wouldn't want to give your students a poor impression of yourself, would you?"

James had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Snape discreetly looked over James' shoulder to where Lily was very interested in the maintenance of her nails that moment.

"Lily!" James strode half-way towards her before stopping. Snape was still watching and the last thing he needed was that slippery fellow getting suspicious.

"Professor…" Lily had no idea what else to say. He had just been a total prick to Snape, or Snivellus as he called him. "I ought to be going. Professor Snape, I'll be seeing you tonight then. Good-day." And she left without a second look at Potter.

"Tonight?" James said when the door shut.

"Yes. We have a meeting… of sorts, this evening." James' head spun around to look at Snape. His eyes cold this time while amusement swam in Snape's. "Now if you'll excuse me."

Snape then swiftly took some papers off of his desk and disappeared into his office.

_Idiot._

I'll say.

James was so confused. In a matter of a conversation, he had ruined any standing he had left with Lily and found out Snivellus was back as slimy as ever. He didn't know exactly how mad Lily was at him; he didn't know what Snape's intentions at Hogwarts were but that he was sure they would do no one any good. And worst, he didn't know what the hell was going to happen or how to fix this mess. All he knew was the he sure did not like the way that git said _of sorts._

**I know I suck. But I have an incredible excuse that will make up for it. **_**I FUCKING HATE SNAPE!! DIE!**_** That's all I can say. I was just sort of putting it off, I guess. I hope to wrap him up next chapter. Also, incredible thanks goes out to ****The-Ruby_Butterfly****, without which, this chapter and then maybe story, would not exist. Her thanks will continue on to the next chapter since she helped me with my Snape plot and a line or 2. You should all give her a huge thank you.**

**My VIR list: **Julie AV, hpdreamer500, Jeca123, wishfulthinking123, Your yellow flower, llc22, Swat56, tehehe, DamageReport, 35words, Marianna Giniagio, DotDotLineLine, Jenny129, MisSaraJean-Jellybean47, sara, The-Ruby-Butterfly (aka Silver B. Wingsfield's savior), and siriuslyseriouspadfootlover. **Thank you! Review!**


	12. Mules

**Um… Professor? **

Chapter 12: Mules

It was truly sickening, it was. It had been almost 2 weeks now (_almost,_ thought James bitterly) and Lily and Snivellus were practically the epitome of chums. They were always talking about potions (James never saw the appeal of the subject) and world events and politics and other equally legitimate conversation topics. It was just utterly ridiculous. James was just as deep as Snape could be and far more interesting to talk to. So why Lily was spending so much time with him instead of James, he could not comprehend.

Then there was a knock at the door. He ignored it, hoping for a little peace in his vexed state. _Knock, know, knock!_ James slammed down his book on his desk and said, "What!" very loudly and irately.

"Well, I didn't mean to intrude…" drawled the single most unwelcome voice to James at the moment.

"And what do you want, Snivellus?" James said through gritted teeth.

"Can't I come by to catch up with an old school chum?" Snape said, feigning sincerity.

"No, you most certainly cannot," James said and looked back at his book, not sinking in a single word.

"Well, that's not very polite. Didn't that prim and proper mother teach you any manners?"

James could not believe he had just mentioned his mother. He looked up at the scum and its smile and said, prim and proper, "Absolutely! What can I do for you?"

Snivellus smiled almost as if satisfied. "I wished to inquire about a certain student and her work in your class. She is impeccable in Potions and I would like to know if she is keeping up to par in other subjects."

"Oh?" James really didn't want to ask the next question but knew that he had to. "And which student would that be?"

"Lily Evans," Snape stated simply.

James just stared at him a little while. **Why the little fuck!** _He can't possibly mean anything by that._ **Of course the git does! Why else would he bring it up?** _Cause she's his favourite?_ **Oh, bull... he knows what's up.**

"I assure you she's a wonderful student in all her subjects. Now if you please, I'm a little busy," James said bitterly.

"Hm," Snape said clearly unsatisfied.

"What!" James said as he slammed his book down on the desk.

Snape's mouth stretched into an odd sort of grin, one that said 'Do you really want to ask that?' "I just thought you'd have a little more to say on the matter?" he said very slowly, pulling each syllable to its furthest.

"What matter would that be?"

"Lily Evans, of course."

James gritted his teeth in an attempt not tear Snape's jaw out. "And why would I have more to say?"

Snape's wicked grin got bigger with every bead of angry sweat that James got.

"You just seemed to take a personal interest in her-"

"Oh! You have to leave? That's too bad to hear we have to cut this little chat short. Good bye!" James said standing up.

"Fine. I can take a hint. But I can also make observations, Potter. And I would hate to find out that someone was abusing their authority to take advantage of an innocent student... Good night." Snape then left serenely and turned his back on a fuming James.

"He has got to go..." James hissed to himself.

"Lily, can't you stop being so unreasonable," Colin was saying to Lily as she was writing up the prefects patrolling schedules.

"How so?" she replied nonchalantly.

"You can't be a matchmaker via Head Girl duties-"

"I beg to differ! It is completely within my powers to pair up whoever I like with whomever else I please!" she continued merrily.

Colin then dropped to his knees, "Please don't do this! I'm begging you!"

"She is a darling and you two would look adorable together, so _hush,_" she commanded him with a bump on his noggin with her quill.

"I am much happier with Jeffrey as my partner-"

"Perhaps, but Donahue does not have boobs. You'll thank me for this. Now as for Mr. Jeffrey Donahue, I'm thinking about the Hufflepuff, what's her face- hey where are you going?"

"You are a mule, Lily Evans. A mule!" he exclaimed and slammed his bedroom door.

"Call me whatever animal names you want, Crags. You'll thank me," Lily muttered to herself.

Lily continued her work for a few undisturbed hours. Finally, Crags decided to come out. He stood directly in front of her with a stone face on.

"I'm going to dinner." He then proceeded to walk out of there common room.

"Oh come one, Crags! I was just trying to help. Don't be mad. Don't be a mule!" Lily said amusedly.

Colin turned around quickly. "A mule? I'm the mule here?" he scoffed at her. "You need to butt out of my life, Evans. I don't need your help with anything. You don't know anything," he finished seriously and walked out of the room.

After he was gone, Lily looked down sheepishly and muttered, "No need to get your knickers in a twist."

Lily continued with her work for a little while thinking about what Crags had said and how silly he seemed to be acting. She was completely dumbfounded as to his moody nature lately. She looked down at the schedule. **Colin Crags – Annie Doll, Tuesdays.**

Lily sighed, rolling her eyes, and pointed her wand at the schedule. **Colin Crags – Jeffrey Donahue, Tuesdays.**

"I am so nice to him," Lily joked to herself.

"Well, you're a nice lass," a voice from behind said suddenly.

"Ahh!" Lily screamed, flailed and bolted up, pointing her wand at her unexpected guest. Her eyes then widened in surprise at the charming stranger and her face contorted to one who'd been surprisingly annoyed. "... James Potter. How dare you sneak up on a girl alone! One might be under the impression that you had unchaste motives for creeping into my private quarters! What in goodness name are you doing in here?"

James did not smile the whole time she was speaking as his custom would have been.

"Is something wrong, James?" Lily inquired, forgetting herself.

James just stood there and slowly lost all his nerve as each second past. This was the first time they had been alone together since she had rejected him. Lily watched as his mouth opened and closed. She watched his hazel eyes blink rapidly then stop altogether and close and look down. Lily watched the muscles in his face tense and twitch then relax with his breath. And finally, she watched his eyes slowly open as she stepped toward him and his step back from her. The couch between silently barricaded them and Lily held onto it waiting for James to begin.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I just needed to let you know," he began looking down at the couch between them, without really seeing, "you shouldn't spend so much time with Snape."

Lily snapped out of her reverie and blinked. "Excuse me? Look James, I know you and Sev had your problems-"

"_Sev?_" James spat out venomously. "He's your professor you know! _Sev_, is no way to be referring to him." James's anxiety had completely dissipated now. And Lily reacted accordingly.

"Oh how silly of me, _James!_ Who am I to call a professor by his first name? You've made your point _Professor Potter_. You can go now." Lily turned and grabbed her stuff to depart into her room.

"Wait Lily, please!" James ran after her and grabbed her arm. "I didn't- I meant just that... Lily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. He's acting weird and-"

"He's acting weird? Look who's talking, James. Look who's the one slipping into the Head's common just to _act weird_. You really can't talk. And furthermore! He's been wonderful and kind and there is no reason for me to cut him off so shut it and get out!"

James breathed deep and let go of her arm. "I know this must seem like it's about our school rivalry, hatred would be a more accurate term really, but it's not."

"What do you mean?"

"I just spoke with him. And it was not a very pleasant conversation, I'll tell you that."

"What are you talking about, James?"

"He knows. At least he knows about how I feel about you."

Lily looked down and she let her back hit the wall and slide down. "This can't be possible. How?" she said eagerly.

"Have I ever been known for my subtlety, Lily? And anyways it doesn't matter; he'll be gone in a couple of days. And even if he says anything to anyone, he has no proof of anything."

Lily looked at him quizzically for a moment. The way she did when something she knew was being challenged. "Then... why did you come to all this trouble to tell me?"

James looked away from her and walked over to the couch slowly. He clenched his jaw and his eyes were unseeing. He sat on the arm and put his hands on his knees, breathing deeply. Finally, he started to laugh. A sweet, pure laugh that held a truth that he hadn't realized before that point. His eyes were wide and bright and he directed them at Lily.

"I guess it was the excuse I was looking for for the past few weeks," he said honestly. He then stood up, kissed her on the cheek, and left.

"What a strange boy," Lily said to herself as the door swung shut.

"Lily... you're all distracted again. What's going on?" Emilia said.

"Nothing. And I mean nothing as in, you are getting nothing out of me tonight," Lily said without as much as an upward glance.

"Okay then moody butt."

"Lily?"

"Oh my gosh, what!" Lily screamed. But it wasn't Emilia. It was Orpheus. "Oh! What do you want?"

"Just to talk," he said honestly. And she believed him. His face showed a bit of shame. He got up and offered her his hand. She declined but followed him out of the Great Hall anyways. In a neighbouring corridor, he stopped walking and turned to her.

"So..." he began.

"Just spit it out, alright."

"Okay! Well then... I think we should go out," he said bluntly.

Lily burst out laughing. "I think you should get a clue! We both know that's so not going to happen, Orpheus."

"Then let me restate myself. Date me." Lily continued to laugh.

"Why would I ever want to do that?"

"Because you wouldn't want your little affair with a certain Professor to get out, would you." Lily stopped laughing.

"You have no proof of that, even if it was true. You are out of your mind. Get some help, Thomas!" Lily proceeded to turned to leave. Winter was hardly there yet and she was in far too much trouble as it was.

"Oh really? Then this picture of someone sneaking out of your room today, what would you call that?"

Lily stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around slowly. "You're bluffing."

"Maybe. Or maybe not. But someone may be interested in this picture that could or could not exist. You obviously aren't, so I'll be on my way."

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

Lily watched the floor intently. "Let me see it."

"Oh but then I may lose my leverage. And that wouldn't be too smart now would it Lily." Orpheus was getting smugger as each second ticked by.

"What do you really want then? You can't just want me to go out with you. You couldn't possibly be that shallow," she said wistfully.

"True. And false. I'm not so shallow as to just want to go out with you. In fact, I'm not romantically interested in you."

Lily's head fell to the side. "What?"

"I have ulterior motives." At her facial expression, he added with a chuckle, "Fear not Miss Head Girl. Your virtue shall remain in its current state."

"I don't understand..." Lily began.

"You don't have to. I just need you to hold the spot of girlfriend for me, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Lily said, getting thoroughly confused.

Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes in an annoyed fashion. "You just have to pretend to be my girlfriend. Is that really so hard to understand?"

Lily started to laugh. "And why would I ever want to do that?"

"Um... oh I don't know. Maybe you should go back and see the first part of our conversation for that answer."

"Oh, right." Lily said. "I don't know about this, Thomas."

"I understand. I really don't want to have to blackmail you. I'm not a bad person. But if I told you my real reasons for needing you to do this, I know you'd say no. So I will be keeping this picture and I'll let you make your decision. Night!"

Lily was more confused than ever. Now, she had to think about answering Thomas, making sure Snape left without scathing her and James's reputations, and what the hell James meant today about an excuse! These boys were going to kill her before they broke for Christmas break. She was sure of it as she walked back to the Great Hall. As she passed a window, she noticed something beautiful and shocking. It was snowing. Time was passing quickly and she did not know what that meant to her.

**A/N: I know. I suck, hard. You don't have to tell me. This chapter sucks too, I also know that. So on with the VIRs**

**Very Important Readers: **humanbeing, MissSaraJean-Jelleybean47, Swat56, Your yellow flower, JPx3LE, doggypaw93, The-Ruby-Butterfly, hpdreamer500, E.B., Jenny129, Jeca123, -Scp-, only Black lover, maddyxxx, scarlet jade, MSDoe **(actually, I did read it. Obviously you don't pay attention to anything or you would notice I just hate him)**, lola, xxcookiesxx123, alice, Silver Scorpion **(thank you for pushing me). I'm getting lots of reviewers. YAY! **

**Constructive criticism is happiness.**


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